Enlarge / GM hopes to start manufacturing this car, with no steering wheel, gas, or brake pedals, next year. (credit: General Motors)
In January, General Motors unveiled the Cruise AV, a car designed to have no steering wheel and no gas or brake pedals. It seems like science fiction, but GM is totally serious about the project. On Wednesday GM announced that it was investing $ 100 million in manufacturing facilities for the new car, with a goal of introducing a commercial taxi service using the vehicles by the end of next year.
But how quickly these cars actually show up on our roads will depend on Congress. Current safety rules require every car to have a steering wheel and pedals—making a car like the Cruise AV illegal without a special exemption. The rules can be changed by regulators, but the rulemaking process typically takes years to complete. So car and technology companies have been lobbying Congress for an expedited process to allow tens of thousands of vehicles like the Cruise AV on the roads ahead of a full re-write of the safety regulations.
The House of Representatives easily passed a version of this legislation, called the SELF DRIVE Act, last September. But the Senate’s companion legislation, known as the AV START Act, has been making slow progress. With midterm elections looming, insiders say the next few months are crucial. If the Senate doesn’t pass the AV START Act soon, large-scale manufacturing of vehicles like the Cruise AV could be pushed well into the next decade.
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