GM, Cruise, and EVs: A New Road Map

GM is breathing new life into its EV and autonomous driving strategies. Learn how Cruise tech is finding new purpose in Super Cruise and beyond.

GM, Cruise, and EVs: A New Road Map

After a safety setback, GM is recalibrating its EV and autonomous driving strategies, focusing on practical applications and leveraging Cruise technology for enhanced driver-assistance systems.

Safety Setback Spurs Strategic Realignment

Following a high-profile incident in San Francisco, GM has been forced to rethink its approach to autonomous vehicles. The Cruise shutdown, triggered by safety concerns, led to a significant reassessment of the company's innovation roadmap. CEO Mary Barra acknowledged that the robotaxi venture had become too costly and a distraction from GM's core business goals. With over $8 billion invested in Cruise since 2016, the project became one of GM's most expensive moonshots.

Cruise Tech Finds New Purpose in Super Cruise

Rather than abandoning its investment altogether, GM is now channeling Cruise's technological advancements into Super Cruise, its premium hands-free driving system. Already available in some GM models, Super Cruise covers over 400,000 miles of compatible roads and is used by roughly 60 percent of drivers whose vehicles are equipped with it. The repurposed Cruise fleet will help GM refine the system's capabilities, potentially making it more competitive with rivals like Tesla's Autopilot or Ford's BlueCruise.

GM Quietly Restarts Cruise Testing with Bolt EVs

General Motors is breathing new life into its once-promising Cruise autonomous vehicle unit by repurposing its electric fleet for internal testing. After halting Cruise operations in December 2023, GM has quietly restarted trials with a limited number of Cruise Bolt EVs on highways in Michigan, Texas, and California’s Bay Area. These vehicles, previously intended for robotaxi deployment, are now part of a scaled-down initiative aimed at enhancing GM’s driver-assistance systems, particularly its Super Cruise technology.

EV Purchases with Crypto

In other news, Mullen Automotive has begun accepting Bitcoin and TRUMP meme coin as payments for its electric vehicles, joining companies like Ferrari and BMW in embracing cryptocurrency as a payment method. While Tesla currently accepts Dogecoin for merchandise, the reinstatement of Bitcoin payments for EVs remains a topic of speculation.

From Futurama to Reality Check

GM’s fascination with autonomous driving goes back nearly a century, famously showcased in its 1939 Futurama exhibit that imagined automated highways. Today’s scaled-back ambitions echo a familiar cycle in tech development: from high-flying dreams to grounded implementations. The future of mobility might not be fully autonomous, but it's still moving forward.