GM, Lyft Self-Driving Car News, Update: Thousands of Chevrolet Bolt EVs to Join Test Fleet in 2018

By Georgia Gana, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, February 21, 2017

General Motors, in partnership with transportation network company, Lyft, will reportedly deploy thousands of self-driving electric cars beginning in 2018.

The automaker's plans for autonomous vehicles were relayed to Reuters by two sources said to be familiar with the matter. If proven to be true, then GM and Lyft will have the largest test fleet among all the companies currently working on autonomous vehicle (AV) technology. In comparison, Google's Waymo has about 60 prototypes in testing with plans to expand the fleet to about 160 vehicles this year.

GM's AVs will be based on the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles (EVs) and will be used for Lyft's ride-sharing service. To note, GM has a $500 million minority stake in Lyft. The automaker is not expected to sell its self-driving car to individual customers just yet.

GM previously talked about plans to mass produce AVs for ride-sharing fleets but did not reveal the exact scale of production or a specific time frame for their rollout. Unfortunately, both GM and Lyft have declined to comment on this latest development.

"We do not provide specific details on potential future products or technology rollout plans. We have said that our AV technology will appear in an on-demand ride sharing network application sooner than you might think," GM said in a statement.

At this time, there are currently about 40 Bolt EVs testing in San Francisco and Scottsdale. Testing is also expected to expand to Detroit this year. In line with this, GM and Lyft recently called on the U.S. government to adopt standardized rules when it comes to testing self-driving cars.

Back in December, GM announced plans to start production of its autonomous test vehicles at the automaker's assembly plant in Orion Township, Michigan in early 2017. The Bolt EVs will be equipped with light detection and ranging (LIDAR), cameras, sensors and other hardware components.

With these plans in mind, it is possible that GM's fleet of autonomous vehicles could indeed be on the road by next year.