It's a bird, it's a plane... it's a toaster-shaped robot taxi. General Motors unveiled its highly-anticipated autonomous robotaxi: "Origin." It was developed by GM's self-driving car unit, Cruise, which GM acquired in 2016. But unlike futuristic concept cars, Origin is a fully engineered vehicle that's actually on its way to production. Here's the deal:
- Automated: No drivers seat, no steering wheel, and (wait for it)... no driver
- Gondola: It looks kinda like a long ski gondola on wheels, with 6 seats facing each other and glass doors that open elevator-door style
- Pennywise: GM says a trip on Origin will be cheaper than a human-driven Uber/Lyft/taxi trip, and even less costly than driving your own car.
Hands off the (non-existent) wheel... Cars without steering wheels aren't street legal on public roads today (still working on safety concerns). So we don't actually know when Origin will hit the roads, but Cruise's CEO says production plans will be released in a few days.
Ride-sharing gains a whole new dimension... Companies like GM and Alphabet are spending billions developing self-driving cars. The goal isn't to sell you a robo-vehicle — it's to offer a robo ride-hail fleet: