GM and Honda unveil driverless EV

Cruise, the San Francisco start-up that was born from a partnership between General Motors and Honda in 2013 and is now majority-owned by GM, has unveiled its first autonomous electric vehicle.

Designed to carry six passengers and drive without the need for any human intervention, the Cruise Origin has no steering wheel or pedals.

Instead, passengers simply enter via dual glass sliding doors on either side and sit down on the forward- or rear-facing three-position bench seats, just like many driverless airport terminal trains.

But the self-driving Cruise Origin will not run on tracks; if the Silicon Valley company gets its way, it will become a robo-taxi operation on public roads.

Cruise has been testing its own autonomous tech in Chevrolet Bolts in the US for years, but now it’s planning something bigger – an autonomous taxi service that customers can request via a smartphone app.

According to the company’s chief executive Dan Ammann, the Origin is designed for shared ownership.

“It’s not a product you buy, it’s an experience you share,” he said, adding that the Origin is not simply a concept.

“It is self-driven. It is all electric. It is shared.”

The Origin has reportedly faced unexpected delays due to “difficulties in identifying whether objects were in motion”.

It’s unknown when the vehicle will go into production or exactly how many Origins Cruise plan to make. Also unclear is where and when testing of prototypes will begin on public roads.