Cruise Automation, the autonomous driving wing of General Motors, has unveiled more details about its Origin self-driving passenger shuttle.
Cruise first showcased the Origin shuttle in January of 2020 and this summer received a $5 billion line of credit from GM Financial to expand its autonomous fleet, bringing the total investment from GM into Cruise to more than $10 billion. The company said it planned to use the funds to build a fleet of Origin shuttles.
Cruise said it still plans to use Origin as the base infrastructure to build fleets of vehicles for two businesses— cargo and passenger travel.
In the video, Cruise showed off a prototype Origin shuttle and some of the testing of the vehicles at GM’s testing grounds. Cruise has been testing its autonomous technology in both San Francisco, California, and in Arizona, working with Walmart to deliver groceries. While these cars are not the final version of the Origin shuttle, the vehicles use the same technology that will eventually find its way into these shuttles.
The company showed how the shuttle has a locker system that can carry up to eight different grocery orders that are insulated and can be locked so that only the user with the right code can open the locker. The shuttles can transition between ride-hailing and delivery of goods in a matter of minutes meaning it could be possible for these vehicles to do both types of transportation over a period of 24 hours.
