According to the company, the testing has already begun and come early 2017, the company expects to begin the production of their next-generation of self-driving test vehicles as well. GM’s Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said, “Revolutionizing transportation for our customers while improving safety on roads is the goal of our autonomous vehicle technology, and today’s announcement gets us one step closer to making this vision a reality.”
Barra adds, “Our autonomous technology will be reliable and safe, as customers have come to expect from any of our vehicles.” GM is definitely not alone in the testing of self-driving vehicles. Google has been for a while testing out their own self-driving vehicles, and have recently spun it off into its own company, Waymo.
Uber has also introduced self-driving pickups, although the program seems to have run into some resistance from California’s regulators. When exactly will GM’s self-driving cars become more mainstream and available to purchase remains to be seen, but it looks like the company is taking steps towards making it a reality.