Cruise is facing cuts and restructuring by GM as a result of several safety incidents. Can the robotaxi developer get back on track?
Cruise, GM, Honda to bring AVs to Japan
The companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a new joint venture to provide a driverless ride-hail service in Japan starting in early 2026.
Cruise autonomous vehicles heading to Japan
Cruise will be sending its first self-driving test vehicles to Japan in 2021. Details about where, when and how many are unknown at this point. But the move appears to deepen the autonomous vehicle partnership between GM and Honda that started in 2018. GM is the majority shareholder in Cruise, while Honda is a major…
Driverless investment tops $1.6B so far this month
After last week’s $582 million in funding for autonomous vehicle companies, you might think that driverless investment would coast for a while. However, this week saw more than $1 billion in support for developing self-driving cars and trucks. President’s Day is traditionally the time for car sales, but the automakers and big technology companies are…
Softbank Vision Fund to invest $2.25B in GM’s Cruise
The Softbank Vision Fund is investing $2.25 billion in GM Cruise Holdings LLC, which is primarily made up of Cruise Automation, the driverless car developer GM acquired in 2016 for nearly $1 billion. When the deal closes, Softbank Vision Fund, an affiliate of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., will own a 19.6 percent stake in GM…
GM picks up lidar dev Strobe
General Motors last week purchased Pasadena, Calif.-based startup Strobe and its laser-based lidar imaging technology, according to an LA Times report. Lidar technology is an essential part of autonomous vehicle’s navigation platforms, and allow for identifying objects and avoiding collisions, but has been costly and kept self-driving cars from seeing larger deployment, according to GM…
New details about Robonaut2
From left: R2A, Ronald Diffler, Marty Linn and R2B In a March 22 presentation at Automate 2011 in Chicago, the NASA and GM Team Leaders provided new details about Robonaut2 A and B, called R2A and R2B, the two products of their four-year collaboration. Marty Linn, from GM, talked about the flexibility and quality that…
NASA’S Robonaut 2 To Be Launched Into Space
NASA will launch the first human-like robot to space later this year to become a permanent resident of the International Space Station. Robonaut 2, or R2, was developed jointly by NASA and General Motors under a cooperative agreement to develop a robotic assistant that can work alongside humans, whether they are astronauts in space or […]