The Chevrolet brand and GM have been ridiculed in the past for what appeared to be a lag behind other automakers when it comes to autonomous vehicles. The fear was the vehicles of other automakers would make it to market as the models that could drive themselves well before GM or Chevrolet ever made it anywhere near the market. While Ford had driverless Fusion models on the road since 2015 to test what it could do, GM seemed to be falling behind. Recent events just might put a hush to the critics and show the automotive market that GM is in the game.
Not only did GM invest heavily in Lyft last year with a $500 million investment to help create ride sharing programs that use autonomous vehicles, but they also purchased Cruse Automation which has begun to develop the self-driving technology for Chevrolet, but now they are poised to enter the trenches of one of the hardest testing areas for vehicles that are self-driving. In addition to choosing a treacherous testing ground, Chevrolet has already began driving self-driving Bolt EV models around San Francisco and Scottsdale with about forty cars in the fleet between the two cities.
The reason Chevrolet can choose an extremely difficult proving ground is because Michigan recently passed a law making it legal to test self-driving cars on the public roads. This makes this state the most liberal when it comes to self-driving cars and offers Chevrolet one of the most impressive locations to test out the vehicles that will move forward and become the autonomous vehicles that we’ll love. The location they have chosen is the roads of and around Detroit. Not only will the testing begin in this area, but the timing will make it difficult for these vehicles to perform.
Chevrolet will begin testing the autonomous Bolt EV models in the roads in Detroit in the winter, next month, and hopes to have the challenges of snow and ice to see how the tech in these cars will perform. Not only will these vehicles be challenged by the snow and ice but with commuters who are typically aggressive and drive above the speed limit on the interstates in the area. This might cause the tech team at Chevrolet to make a few adjustments regarding programming to keep the vehicle within the flow of traffic which can be an important aspect of the drive for an autonomous vehicle.
While this will easily be the most difficult proving ground in the market so far, Chevrolet isn’t stopping or slowing when it comes to the production of this car. The self-driving Bolt EV will be the first mass-produced autonomous vehicle on the road over the next year. Production is expected to begin in the early part of 2017 in the Orion Township Assembly plant which is where the Bolt is already being produced. With these moves by Chevrolet it’s fair and easy to say that Chevy is very much in the game when it comes to the autonomous driving and the advanced technology this type of driving will take.