all-electric vehicle
The Cruise Origin driverless shuttle. Credit: Cruise.

Cruise, a majority-owned firm of General Motors (GM), has unveiled an all-electric automated vehicle.

The driverless shuttle is called Origin and was launched at an event in San Francisco, the US.

The self-driving vehicle has been designed to operate without any manual controls such as pedals or steering wheels.

Cruise CEO Dan Ammann was quoted by CNBC as saying: “It is self-driven. It is all-electric. It is shared. It is a production vehicle. We need to move beyond the car.”

The shuttle has increased interior space and legroom for its users compared to other conventional cars. It also has doors that can slide sideways.

This automated vehicle features sensors that function as the vehicle’s eyes to perceive its surroundings.

The vehicle was expected to be deployed last year but was delayed due to technical and regulatory glitches.

According to the company, the Origin self-driving vehicles are being ‘gated by safety’.

The current testing fleet of the shuttle is based on GM’s all-electric, autonomous Chevrolet Bolt EV. In 2017, Chevrolet Bolt EV was launched with traditional interiors but no manual controls.

In October 2018, the announcement to develop a purpose-built self-driving vehicle was made by GM with Japanese automaker Honda Motor.

In 2018, Honda Motor acquired a 5.7% stake in Cruise with an investment of $2.75bn. The development project was contracted for more than 12 years.

Tesla and Alphabet’s subsidiary Waymo are emerging competitors of GM in the automation vehicle industry.

Last July, Waymo’s self-driving robotaxi was permitted to carry passengers in California. Other companies such as Zoox, Autox Technologies and Pony.ai also participated in the pilot programme.