GM's Self-Driving Unit Launches Ride-Hailing App
August 08 2017 - 5:22PM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Colias
General Motors Co.'s autonomous-vehicle arm has hatched its own
ride-hailing app for self-driving cars, a sign the Detroit auto
giant could sidestep its partnership with Lyft Inc. and develop its
own network of robotaxis.
Cruise Automation, a tech startup acquired by GM last year, has
begun testing an app-based service for its roughly 150 employees to
be shuttled around Silicon Valley in self-driving cars. Dubbed
"Cruise Anywhere," the service currently is exclusively for company
employees and requires a "safety trainer" at the wheel, but it is
being developed as a commercial product, the company said.
The move comes after an array of partnerships was forged between
traditional auto companies and tech firms working on future
transportation options, including ride-sharing and autonomous cars.
GM invested $500 million in Lyft in early 2016 was part of what the
companies called "a long-term strategic alliance to create an
integrated network of on-demand autonomous vehicles."
Kyle Vogt, the founder and chief executive of GM's Cruise
operation, indicated Tuesday the auto maker may need to switch
gears. "To get us to the future faster, we're prepared to go with
one partner, many partners, or no partners at all," he said in a
statement.
GM, the Cruise division and Lyft had planned to test autonomous
Chevrolet Bolts with customers on public roads this year, The Wall
Street Journal reported last year.
A spokeswoman for Lyft declined to comment on Cruise's
ride-hailing app. Since attracting the GM investment, Lyft has
signed separate technical-development pacts with Alphabet Inc.'s
Waymo autonomous-vehicle arm and Boston-based self-driving startup
Nutonomy Inc.
Lyft is also working on its own autonomous-vehicle development.
Most industry participants, including GM executives, have said
autonomous vehicles will catch on first in commercial fleets, and
then trickle into the general public.
GM CEO Mary Barra has played down Lyft's growing list of
autonomous-driving partners, saying GM's pact with the San
Francisco company is going well and was "never an exclusive
arrangement."
"That's one of the things you find quite often in Silicon Valley
with technology companies. We're working together in one space,
we're competing in another," Ms. Barra told reporters in June. "I
think we've worked through that."
GM also has teamed with Uber Technologies Inc., the nation's
largest ride-hailing company, to provide vehicles to Uber drivers
in some markets. A GM spokesman declined to say whether work
between the two companies has evolved beyond that.
Waymo is testing autonomous minivans from Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles with families and commuters in the Phoenix area. Uber
offers self-driving vehicle rides to customers in Pittsburgh and
Tempe, Ariz.
The patchwork of partnerships that are emerging reflect the
"frenemy" nature of collaboration between Silicon Valley companies
and auto makers and suppliers on future automotive technology, IHS
Automotive analyst Jeremy Carlson said. It has become common for
companies to sync up with various rivals in the development of
autonomous vehicles, an approach that could also spread to other
emerging transportation businesses.
As auto makers work on autonomous technology, everyday consumers
remain uneasy with turning over the wheel, according to various
independent surveys. The GM spokesman said the Cruise employee
testing will help the company gather data about rider behavior and
acceptance of the technology.
Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 08, 2017 17:07 ET (21:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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