The future of driving is closer than you may think. Nora Naughton of The Detroit News writes:
The first market-ready self-driving car is poised to come from General Motors Co., which submitted its federal safety proposal Thursday to put a robotic vehicle with no steering wheel or gas pedal on public roads in 2019.
The petition filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seeks permission to deploy the autonomous cars, built on the Chevrolet Bolt EV platform, next year. It also asks permission to meet 16 safety requirements “in a different way,” Paul Hemmersbaugh, GM’s chief counsel and public policy director for transportation and service, said on a conference call.
The Detroit automaker is gearing up to meet its deadline for deploying a driverless ride-hailing service next year in a yet-to-be-named city. If the federal safety highway agency approves GM’s petition, the automaker could build up to 2,500 of these vehicles per year, though the automaker has not committed to a firm production plan.
