Last week, General Motors announced that it will begin making a production version of the self-driving Cruise AV at its Orion Township assembly plant in Michigan, while roof modules for the vehicles will be assembled at the Brownstone battery plant. The automaker will invest more than $100 million to upgrade both facilities, bringing the company a step closer to its vision for future mobility.
“We’re continuing to make great progress on our plans to commercialize in 2019,” said GM President Dan Ammann. “Our Orion and Brownstown teams have proven experience in building high-quality self-driving test vehicles and battery packs, so they are well-prepared to produce the Cruise AV.”
The Cruise AV is the first production-ready vehicle built from the ground up to operate safely on its own with no driver, steering wheel, pedals or manual controls. This is also a major part of General Motors’ overarching plan for zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.
Since January 2017, UAW Local 5960 workers at the Orion plant have assembled three generations of Cruise self-driving test vehicles for use in the most challenging urban environments, including downtown San Francisco. With more than 200 of these test vehicles assembled at Orion, the plant expects to start production of the fourth generation of the Cruise AV later this year.
To learn more about General Motors’ self-driving technology and recent announcement, click here.
This article was originally posted on the General Motors Green Blog.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Mar 20, 2018 3am EDT / 12am PDT / 7am GMT / 8am CET