General Motors (NYSE:GM) subsidiary, Cruise, is poised to begin testing its autonomous vehicles later in the year. The company has secured much-needed permits from the California Department of Motor vehicles to remove human backup drivers when testing the self-driving cars on the roads.
Cruise California Permits
According to Cruise CEO, Dan Ammann removing backup drivers as part of the testing phase would mark an important milestone as a true benchmark of self-driving cars. However, it won’t be the first company to secure a permit to test self-driving cars without back up drivers. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL)’s Waymo and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s Zoox have already achieved the same feet.
However, Ammann says they intend to become the first auto company to test an unmanned self-driving car in a major U.S city. The cruise was forced to delay the launch of a commercial self-driving car last year. At the time, the company insisted that the purported self-driving car required further testing. Even as Cruise moves to test the self-driving car on the roads, it is still unclear when it plans to launch them for the mass market.
A permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles is a big boost for General Motors, which has come under scrutiny in recent weeks. The company has seen its investment in Nikola, a company purporting to develop fuel cell and electric cars, come under scrutiny.
Auto Industry Competition
Similarly, the Cruise milestone would be a major boost for an auto giant that is under immense pressure from other companies making impressive strides in the development of electric and self-driving cars. The company has seen its market share come under pressure as Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) continues to call the shorts on self-driving electric cars spectacle.
Tesla has risen up the ranks to become the world’s most valuable auto company with a market cap of more than $400 billion, nearly twice that of Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE: TM) and ten times more than that of General Motors.