Cruise Origin Spy Shots Automated Shuttle Testing Begins

Origin, Cruise's self-driving shuttle that was first unveiled as a concept in early 2020, has finally been spotted on a test run.

The Origin prototype in the spy shots looks almost identical to the concept, but the various sensors that line the front edge of the vehicle's roof are exposed here rather than hidden by panels. The sensor units mounted at each corner, including the rider sensors, also appear larger than those foretold in the concept.

Testing was conducted inside General Motors' test center near Milford, Michigan, and it still appears to have been driven by a human. However, Cruise is using a modified Chevrolet Bolt EV to develop the self-driving system, which has already been test-driving around San Francisco without a human driver.

Origin will be the primary vehicle used by Cruise once the self-driving cab service is fully operational; Origin is designed to take advantage of economies of scale, with easy hardware upgrades and an expected service life of over 1 million miles.

GM is the largest shareholder in Cruze and will be responsible for production of Origin, a fully electric shuttle based on GM's Ultium EV platform that is expected to begin production in early 2023 at GM's Factory Zero plant in Detroit. The plant is where GM currently builds the GMC Hummer EV.

San Francisco will be the first location where the Origin will be deployed, but Cruz announced plans to eventually deploy it in Japan in early 2021. Cruise plans to work with Honda, its other major shareholder, to conduct business in Japan.

Cruise's self-driving system is ranked at Level 4 on the SAE scale of self-driving capability because of the limited geographic area in which it operates. The ultimate goal is Level 5, where automated vehicles can drive at the same level as humans. Level 5 may be a decade or more away, but companies are already offering commercial services using Level 4 vehicles. Alphabet's Waymo One service has been operating in parts of Phoenix for the past three years, and China's Baidu launched its Apollo Go service in Beijing last year.

The prototype was spotted just weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that regulators in charge of issuing permits for self-driving cars in California were investigating potential safety concerns with the Cruze detailed in an anonymous letter claiming to be from someone working for the company. ...