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GM/Cruise Origin Autonomous Pod Thingy Shown


rmc523

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https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/21/cruise-automation-origin-autonomous-car-sharing-system/

 



Here it is, the fully fleshed-out autonomous car from Cruise Automation, GM's autonomous vehicle subsidiary. It's called the Cruise Origin, and it looks pretty much like all those other autonomous pod concepts we've seen over the past few years.

Styling wise, it's a box with slightly curvy ends. Both ends look pretty much identical, except one has red lights and the other has white lights. In the middle are split sliding doors like those on a subway train. On top you can see some of the sensors it uses to navigate.

Inside, the Origin adopts a similar layout to other autonomous concepts with the front and rear seats facing each other, with a large empty space in-between. Behind the seats is cargo space. While Cruise doesn't provide any details about the interior, the photos show that the seats, floors and more are hard, durable plastics and vinyls that are presumably easy to clean.

 

Cruise is also mum on many other details. It notes that it's electric and is built on a platform from GM, and it uses a modular system for its sensor hardware that can be upgraded independent of the car itself. It also says each vehicle should be able to be used for up to one million miles. As for battery capacity, motor arrangement and output, Cruise shares nothing. Well, it will share the car. Cruise Origins will be summoned via an app just like with a ride-sharing service, though Cruise touts the fact that you'll get a consistently clean and safe vehicle every time and at all hours of the day. Cruise also says that when the Origin goes online in San Francisco, a user could save as much as $5,000 a year compared with owning a car or using a ride-sharing service. Cruise does not say when the vehicle will be available to the public, though, nor how much rides will cost. So while the Origin answers some questions about the future of Cruise, it also raises many more.

 

Cruise Origin

Cruise Origin

Cruise Origin

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Can't wait to see it maneuver around cable cars.

 

There is no way you're saving $5K/yr over Lyft/Uber even without a driver unless they're planning on losing money the first year.

 

And what if somebody throws up in it?  How does it know to go get cleaned?

 

Typical GM.

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Cruise Origin seems very promising. But as the Autoblog article said, more details about both the Origin vehicle and the service offerings associated with it are needed to get consumers onboard, literally and figuratively.

 

 

 

 

Edited by rperez817
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47 minutes ago, akirby said:

Can't wait to see it maneuver around cable cars.

 

There is no way you're saving $5K/yr over Lyft/Uber even without a driver unless they're planning on losing money the first year.

 

And what if somebody throws up in it?  How does it know to go get cleaned?

 

Typical GM.

 

I thought the same thing - sounds like they just pulled 5k out of you know where and threw it up.

 

19 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

 

What things about the Origin's design, in terms of what GM Cruise has shared so far, aren't feasible?

 

Well they haven't shared anything aside from a few pictures.  So all of it.

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34 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

 

What things about the Origin's design, in terms of what GM Cruise has shared so far, aren't feasible?

 

The fact that it will be cheaper than Uber/Lyft and whether it can negotiate SF streets especially cable cars successfully to name just a couple.

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On 1/22/2020 at 2:16 PM, akirby said:

There is no way you're saving $5K/yr over Lyft/Uber

 

In 2018, AAA did a cost analysis of both car ownership and full time use of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft in urban areas. Here is what they found. https://newsroom.aaa.com/2018/08/ride-hailing-double-cost-car-ownership/

  • the average driver in an urban area – the only setting in which using ride-hailing services are a practical full-time transportation option – drives 10,841 miles per year
  • average annual cost to own and operate a new vehicle is $7,321 for 10,841 miles of travel
  • cost of flat-rate parking per year ranges from $706 (Phoenix) to $8,088 (New York), with an average cost of $2,728.
  • Total annual car ownership cost in San Francisco including parking would probably be around $13,000
  • Annual full time ride hailing cost in San Francisco is $21,972

Knocking off $5,000 off annual full time ride sharing cost in San Francisco brings the customer price to about $17,000 a year, or a little over $1,400 a month. Taking $5,000 off the annual new vehicle ownership cost in San Francisco brings comes to about $8,000 a year, or $667 a month.

 

$667 a month does not seem unreasonable for a service like GM Cruise Origin. Once GM and other companies providing these services achieve economies of scale in multiple urban areas, an even lower price point is feasible.

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2 hours ago, rperez817 said:

$667 a month does not seem unreasonable for a service like GM Cruise Origin. Once GM and other companies providing these services achieve economies of scale in multiple urban areas, an even lower price point is feasible.

 

So here is the one thing to consider-how many people are going to actually want to share a ride with someone else in a transportation "pod" like this-this isn't like a bus or metro/subway where there are other people working on the bus/train can intervene in a situation. Once stories of people getting mugged/raped/etc get out into the news, that is going to be a black eye to these companies. If you limit it to one person-what is the point? All your doing is adding traffic to the roads. 

 

Lots of this seems like solutions searching for problems. 

 

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55 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

So here is the one thing to consider-how many people are going to actually want to share a ride with someone else in a transportation "pod" like this-this isn't like a bus or metro/subway where there are other people working on the bus/train can intervene in a situation.

 

There are pros and cons to existing motorized urban transportation options. If a service like GM Cruise Origin can provide a significantly lower cost than traditional ride hailing and individual car ownership, a significantly better quality travel experience than public transit, and better safety than all the other options, a lot of people will be interested.

 

Public transit (buses & trains)

Pros:

  • Inexpensive for customer
  • Typically high volume & utilization of vehicles (varies by urban area, though)

Cons:

  • Generally low quality
  • Constraints on service territory
  • Corruption at transit agencies

Ride hailing with human drivers (current Uber, Lyft system)

Pros:

  • Convenient
  • Higher quality than public transit
  • Typically high volume & utilization of vehicles (varies by urban area, though)

Cons:

  • Expensive for customer
  • Criminal activity by driver contractors

Individual automobile ownership

Pros:

  • Higher quality than public transit
  • Allows ad-hoc travel easily

Cons:

  • Expensive for customer
  • Very low utilization of vehicles

 

Edited by rperez817
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  • 8 months later...

GM Cruise received a permit yesterday from California DMV allowing them to test self-driving cars on public roads without a human backup driver. Cruise is going to start testing 5 such autonomous cars on the streets of San Francisco within the next couple months. Not sure if those any of those test vehicles will be Cruise Origin prototypes, their existing AV test vehicles are modified Chevy Bolts.

 

Cruise CEO Dan Ammann wrote a blog post on this milestone. https://medium.com/cruise/its-time-to-drive-change-f447f27cb353

 

Quote

"Today, Cruise received a permit from the California DMV to remove the human backup drivers from our self-driving cars. We’re not the first company to receive this permit, but we’re going to be the first to put it to use on the streets of a major U.S. city.

Before the end of the year, we’ll be sending cars out onto the streets of SF — without gasoline and without anyone at the wheel. Because safely removing the driver is the true benchmark of a self-driving car, and because burning fossil fuels is no way to build the future of transportation.

It will be a low key, quiet moment. But the echo could be loud.

Personal, gasoline-powered vehicles spew nearly three times their own weight in carbon dioxide every year. Cruise cars spew none.

The pandemic has seen the killing of Americans on our roads accelerate to the fastest rate in 15 years. Less traffic caused people to drive like idiots. More speeding, drinking and drugs. Fewer seatbelts. Self-driving cars will save millions of lives.

City dwellers, in a sad twist on social distancing, are now buying more cars than ever. Traffic won’t just come back, it will suck worse than ever. But self-driving cars, which can be shared safely and efficiently, will reduce congestion dramatically and permanently.

The impact on our cities, our world, and our climate will be real and sooner than you might think.

But for today, I’m going to celebrate this one moment — this small but significant step on our own mission to the moon.

And in the months ahead, if you happen to see any of our cars out on the road, go ahead and wave. There might not be anyone inside, but they see you too, and appreciate your support as they drive change for us all."

 

Edited by rperez817
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30 minutes ago, rperez817 said:

GM Cruise received a permit yesterday from California DMV allowing them to test self-driving cars on public roads without a human backup driver. Cruise is going to start testing 5 such autonomous cars on the streets of San Francisco within the next couple months. Not sure if those any of those test vehicles will be Cruise Origin prototypes, their existing AV test vehicles are modified Chevy Bolts.

 

Yearly self driving report is out - Waymo is crushing it - CorvetteForum -  Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion

Edited by twintornados
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  • 3 weeks later...
9 hours ago, probowler said:

I wonder how you enforce smoking regulations?

I personally don't care and think you should be allowed to, but I know a lot of other people probably wouldn't appreciate one of the passengers toking up.

 

Airbus electronic nose bomb detectors could detect biohazards like viruses - Business Insider

I am sure you could use this type of tech to detect someone smoking in the vehicle and then the sniffer mechanism would interact with the drive mechanism to pull the vehicle over and either request the person exit, or issue them a fine.

 

....ain't technology grand?

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21 minutes ago, twintornados said:

 

Airbus electronic nose bomb detectors could detect biohazards like viruses - Business Insider

I am sure you could use this type of tech to detect someone smoking in the vehicle and then the sniffer mechanism would interact with the drive mechanism to pull the vehicle over and either request the person exit, or issue them a fine.

 

....ain't technology grand?

 

Big Brother! We're all being watch... cameras everywhere... and being monitored.

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  • 5 months later...

Government of Dubai announced today an agreement with General Motors/Cruise to deploy Origin AVs in that emirate. First for testing, eventually for commercial deployment. Hamdan bin Mohammed attends signing of agreement between RTA and Cruise to operate self-driving taxis and ride-hailing services in Dubai (mediaoffice.ae)

 

"

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, witnessed the signing of an agreement between the RTA and Cruise, a leading US-based autonomous vehicle company, as part of which Cruise will operate self-driving taxis and ride-hailing services in the emirate. The agreement will make Dubai the first non-US city in the world where Cruise will commercially operate these vehicles.

 

The deployment of these self-driving vehicles is expected to significantly improve road safety levels as over 90% of accidents are due to human errors. The all-electric vehicles are environmentally-friendly and capable of serving a wide range of clients from different community segments, including seniors and people of determination. This agreement will support Dubai’s 2030 vision for self-driving technology, as part of which the emirate seeks to reduce transportation costs by AED900 million a year and save AED1.5 billion a year by reducing environmental pollution by 12 per cent, as well as generate AED18 billion in annual economic returns by increasing the efficiency of the transportation sector in Dubai."

 

gdmo1-b-12-04-21.jpg

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  • 6 months later...

Updates about GM Cruise and Cruise Origin timeline.

 

  • 2021, continuation of real world testing that began last year in San Francisco
  • Late 2021, commercialization of driverless ride hailing services in San Francisco and driverless goods delivery in Phoenix will get underway
  • 2022, expansion of early commercialization phase
  • Late 2022 - Early 2023, start of production for Cruise Origin at GM's Factory Zero in Detroit/Hamtramck
  • 2023 - 2025, expansion of AV products and services including ability to retrofit GM cars and trucks with autonomous capabilities

 

GM Cruise 2.jpg

Edited by rperez817
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On 1/25/2020 at 4:50 PM, rperez817 said:

 

Individual automobile ownership

Pros:

  • Higher quality than public transit
  • Allows ad-hoc travel easily

Cons:

  • Expensive for customer
  • Very low utilization of vehicles

 

Why is very low utilization of vehicles considered a con?

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1 hour ago, CurtisH said:

Why is very low utilization of vehicles considered a con?

 

"bad for the environment", "wasteful", etc

 

Boils down to trying to turn everything into a "rental society" that only really benefits producers of items since you can't acquire wealth (i.e. through real estate, etc) by purchasing things, your only renting them. How deep you wanna go depends on how big your tinfoil hat is. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

GM Cruise announced on November 5 that they submitted the final of 6 permits needed for the company to operate a commercial autonomous vehicle ride sharing service in San Francisco. If California regulators approve that permit, GM will be the first company to operate such a service in the state. GM-backed Cruise seeks final approval to commercialize robotaxis in San Francisco (msn.com)

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40 minutes ago, akirby said:

Irresponsible to do this without extensive testing to prove these vehicles are safe especially in adverse conditions.

 

GM Cruise has been doing extensive real world testing in San Francisco over the past year and continues to do so. See the timeline a few posts up.

 

In terms of conditions, the permit that GM Cruise applied for allows them to operate the San Francisco autonomous shared vehicle service only between 10PM and 6AM, at a maximum speed of 30 MPH, and in mild weather conditions (no worse than light rain and fog). As GM Cruise does more testing, and as the initial robotaxi service gets underway, it will be up to California regulators to determine if and when they can expand its service offering.

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