Hyperdrive
GM Drops the Steering Wheel and Gives Robot Driver Control
- Automaker’s new Bolt won’t allow a human driver to take over
- Experiment will be a significant step forward for self-driving
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Next year, General Motors Co. will no longer need an engineer in the front seat babysitting the robot brain that controls its self-driving Chevrolet Bolt. The steering wheel and pedals will be gone, giving total control to the machine.
When GM starts testing its autonomous electric sedan in San Francisco ride-sharing fleets, it’ll likely be the first production-ready car on the roads without the tools to let a human assume control. The announcement Friday is the first sign from a major carmaker that engineers have enough confidence in self-driving cars to let them truly go it alone.