US - General Motors is spending US$100m to upgrade its Orion Township and Brownstown plants ahead of market introduction of the Cruise Autonomous Vehicle (AV), which is set for 2019. The roof modules that have LiDAR, cameras and sensors attached to them are being assembled at Brownstown on a dedicated production line, while the rest of the vehicle will be made at Orion.
"We’re continuing to make great progress on our plans to commercialise in 2019," commented GM president Dan Ammann. "Our Orion and Brownstown teams have proven experience in building high-quality self-driving test vehicles and battery packs, so they are well-prepared to produce the Cruise AV."
Over 200 units of the Cruise AV have been produced at Orion to date, but these have been used solely for testing purposes. The company has also recently filed a Safety Petition with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in the hope of obtaining permission to deploy Cruise AVs that do not have any manual controls.
The news comes shortly after GM revealed it would increase Bolt EV production at Orion. This may be linked directly to the planned production of the Cruise AV, rather than demand for the model.
