The future of making cars? Don’t blink. It’s here.
Two of the Big 3 made significant vehicle technology splashes on Friday, with Ford launching a Ford Smart Mobility subsidiary and General Motors purchasing Cruise Automation, a developer of autonomous vehicle technology.
GM recently rolled out an Autonomous Vehicle Development Team, of which San Francisco-based Cruise will be a part.
The acquisition of Cruise, which officials said will stay in San Francisco, will likely close next quarter upon meeting customary closing conditions. The automaker said the move helps it “further accelerate GM’s development of autonomous vehicle technology.”
Commenting in its news release, GM president Dan Ammann said: “Fully autonomous vehicles can bring our customers enormous benefits in terms of greater convenience, lower cost and improved safety for their daily mobility needs.”
Mark Reuss, the automaker’s executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, said: “Cruise provides our company with a unique technology advantage that is unmatched in our industry. We intend to invest significantly to further grow the talent base and capabilities already established by the Cruise team.”
This move follows three related steps by General Motors in 2016. GM has partnered with Lyft, launched a personal mobility brand for car-sharing fleets called Maven and rolled out the aforementioned autonomous vehicle development division, the company said.
As for Cruise, it launched in 2013 and quickly started buidling and testing autonomous vehicle technology, GM said.
“GM’s commitment to autonomous vehicles is inspiring, deliberate, and completely in line with our vision to make transportation safer and more accessible,” said Cruse Automomation co-founder Kyle Vogt. “We are excited to be partnering with GM and believe this is a ground-breaking and necessary step toward rapidly commercializing autonomous vehicle technology.”
Kelley Blue Book analyst Akshay Anand said in comments provided to the media by parent Cox Automotive that this move illustrates the emphasis GM — and its rivals, for that matter — are putting on autonomous driving.
“The Cruise acquisition shows that GM is serious about autonomous driving, as is almost every other auto manufacturer,” Anand said. “Like it or not, autonomous cars are coming, and coming fast.”
That’s something the industry would be wise to take to heart. Those who don’t adapt could get left out.
“The race to produce a fully autonomous car has accelerated to a breakneck pace. Every automaker is jockeying for position because of the massive opportunity this new technology represents,” said KBB senior analyst Karl Brauer, in the same commentary. “The opposite is also true — a car company that falls behind in this area could end up being the Nokia of the auto industry.”
This “jockeying for position” is particularly evident in the fact that just across town, Ford was making a related (albeit, different — its action was beyond automation) move in creating Ford Smart Mobility.
Read more of the original article in Auto Remarketing
