User:Mliu92/sandbox/Cruise AV

The Cruise AV is an autonomous vehicle based on the Chevrolet Bolt battery-electric vehicle. The Cruise AV was developed and tested starting in 2016 by Cruise Automation, whose majority owner is General Motors; GM acquired Cruise in March 2016. The vehicle has undergone two major revisions and is the first vehicle to offer driverless taxi services in California.

History
Pre-production versions of the Bolt EV were built at Orion Assembly in March 2016 and sent to Cruise, who modified the cars by adding sensors in San Francisco. The modified pre-production vehicles were photographed in San Francisco in May. This fleet of 50 1st-generation (G1) Bolt EV-based Cruise AVs were tested starting from June 2016 in the San Francisco Bay Area and Scottsdale, Arizona.

With the acquisition by GM in March 2016, Cruise also began working with GM engineers to develop the 2nd-generation (G2) Cruise AV, which would be assembled alongside regular production Bolt EVs at Orion Assembly. While the G1 Cruise AV is equipped with two roof-mounted LIDAR sensors, has four small round headlights, and retains the Chevrolet "bowtie" logo on the front grille, the G2 can be distinguished by its larger sensor package, being equipped with five roof-mounted LIDARs and being styled largely the same as the regular production Bolt. A fleet of 130 G2 Cruise AVs were completed by June 2017, with an expanded, better-integrated sensor suite. The G2 (and G3) Cruise AVs are equipped with five roof-mounted LIDARs, 16 cameras, and 21 radars (both long- and short-range as well as articulating). The first G1 Cruise AV was retired and sent to the Henry Ford Museum in March 2019.

A prototype 3rd-generation (G3) Cruise AV was shown in September 2017; Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt stated the G3 AV was designed to incorporate redundant systems and was ready to be scaled up for mass production at the Orion Township factory. In addition, the G3 AV uses fault-tolerant electrical, communication, and actuation systems unique to the automated vehicle and not shared with the Bolt EV. With the completion of 50 G3 Cruise AVs in fall 2017, GM now considers the vehicle a separate model from the Bolt. Externally, the G3 Cruise AV may be distinguished from the G2 by the color of the rooftop sensor package (black on the G2, white on the G3) and the two articulating radars, which are black colored, replacing the side rear-view mirrors on the G2; compared to white colored, mounted just above the front wheels on the G3.

Members of the press were invited to ride in a G2 Cruise AV in November 2017; they reported the choices made by the car's programming were conservative, but the self-driving system had minimal disengagements over the short 2.4 to 3 mi trips. In January 2018, Cruise showed renderings and a prototype of its planned 4th-generation (G4) AV, which removed the traditional driver's controls such as the steering wheel and pedals and largely retained the external features of the G2, but further development of the G4 Cruise AV was canceled to concentrate on their next generation autonomous vehicle, the Origin, which was unveiled in January 2020 and lacks driver controls entirely. The Origin is scheduled to be introduced in January 2023. Cruise received approval to test cars without safety drivers on public roads in October 2020; the first SAE Level 4 vehicles tested by Cruise were G3 AVs. The safety driver was relegated to the passenger's (right-hand) front seat and did not have access to the traditional controls.

Later in 2021, a G2 Cruise AV nicknamed "Poppy" was filmed for a short promotional video while undergoing testing in San Francisco. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved Cruise's application in June 2022; with the permit, Cruise plans to start offering driverless revenue taxi services in San Francisco with Cruise AVs.