Kyle Vogt, co-founder, president and chief technology officer for Cruise Automation Inc., speaks as … [+]
Despite increasing cases of Covid-19, Cruise, the autonomous technology company backed by General Motors
Because the Origin has no pedal controls, GM and Cruise need approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to operate no-controls driverless vehicles. A petition submitted in 2018 seeking such approval for driverless Chevrolet Bolt EVs has been withdrawn.
The entire ride-sharing business has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic. But Cruise developers have been working to mitigate the risk of virus spread within a vehicle that will carry two passengers without a driver.
Every Origin shuttle will be equipped with hand sanitizer and wipes. All passengers must wear masks. The vehicles will be cleaned thoroughly and frequently.
It is unclear if that will be enough to give riders sufficient confidence in the experience.
A 2017 study commissioned by the San Francisco Transportation Authority found that ride-hailing services such as Uber
Then the pandemic hit. Since February Uber has laid off 3,700 employees, or about a quarter of its workforce. Lyft has laid off about 1,000 workers.
In May, Cruise laid off 160, or about 8% of its workforce.
General Motors and Honda have both invested aggressively in Cruise and they remain committed to making it a major player in the ride-sharing market.
Congestion will return to traffic in most major cities. Companies in the autonomous vehicle area continue to see their technology as a potential solution to reduce the nearly 40,000 traffic deaths annually in the U.S.
According to a post on Cruise’s website, its engineers have worked with a Harvard-trained epidemiologist to re-imagine the Origin’s interior. They used data from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Because there is more space in the Origin than in a tradition car, they were able to install clear barriers to protect each rider. Only two people will be allowed in the vehicle at a time.
They have increased air circulation in the ventilation system to offset the inability to roll down the windows.
“The good news is that we had already been thinking about how to minimize the risk of contagion inside the Origin,” according to post on Cruise’s website. “But as this virus spread across the globe, we realized we needed to do more.”
The Origin will be built at GM’s “Factory Zero” electric vehicle hub, formerly known as the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.
