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General Motors Co. has created its own platform for ordering taxis and has quietly developed one of the largest charging stations in the United States in order to have its autonomous car unit Cruise ready to enter the next year's robot transportation business
Cruise installed 18 fast chargers in a parking lot near the San Francisco Embarcadero, the lively boulevard which runs along the east coast of the city where Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. your busy drivers. And GM's autonomous vehicle unit has tested its own app to call Cruise Anywhere taxis and its fleet management system, people with knowledge on the subject said.
The largest automaker in the United States has long been planning to create a taxi company using autonomous vehicles in 2019, but it has not specified where to start the service or whether it would work with a partner.
These latest gestures show that Golden Gate City is the place where GM will assemble parts to launch Waymo's rival of Alphabet Inc. next year, if the Detroit company decides not to work with a dedicated brand application like that of Uber or Lyft. "This is a sign that Cruise is preparing to market stand-alone taxi services to the public and that it will be in San Francisco," said Grayson Brulte, co-founder of the Brulte & Autonomy Consulting Firm. Co. "I imagine that they want to be the owners of the service and operate it."
A GM spokesman is limited to saying that the automaker is still working to market its car-free service and that the company has not decided whether it would own the company or seek partners. He did not agree to make statements about the place.
Capacity Building
What is clear is that GM is developing the resources to handle both cars and the interface with consumers. Your travel sharing platform could be used alone or customized to interact with a partner, said one person.
Cruise is touted as one of the major initiatives of Mary Barra senior manager since the acquisition of GM in 2016. The operation was strongly boosted in late May when the Japan's SoftBank Vision Fund has agreed to take a 19.6% cruise share for $ 2,250 million – more than half of which is dependent on the preparation of self-driving vehicles for commercial purposes.
The automaker also performs a first exploration to determine whether the shares related to the company's trajectory or an IPO would be justified once the company consolidated, said people with knowledge of the subject in June.
GM Fast Chargers are located near the Embarcadero because it is a popular place for taxi services. This installation could help Cruise quickly recharge its autonomous cars, which are Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles with major modifications.
In addition to Cruise, GM has tested new business models outside of traditional automotive manufacturing. His car sharing unit is renting Bolts drivers to the Lyft and Uber drivers, which helps the company use electric vehicles for business fleets, said Sam Abuelsamid, Senior Analyst. at Navigant Research.
"We will surely see more things when GM launches automated mobility services," said Abuelsamid.
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