Cruise – Shaping the future with self-driving car services

Autonomous cars are evolving from futuristic dreams to modern reality, and as the technology matures, personal and public transportation will be forever transformed. Eventually, driverless cars will take human motorists out of the equation entirely, banishing dangerous drowsy, impaired, and distracted drivers from roadways. For an automobile to be autonomous, it needs to be continuously aware of its surroundings first, by perceiving and then acting on the information through the autonomous/computer control of the vehicle. For the vehicle to be truly capable of driving without user control, an extensive amount of training must be initially undertaken for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) network to understand how to see, understand what it’s seeing, and make the right decisions in any imaginable traffic situation.

Cruise is the only autonomous vehicle company with the ability to produce fully integrated self-driving cars at a global manufacturing scale. Cruise is solving an incredibly wide array of challenges. From designing custom hardware platforms to writing highly optimized code running at low latencies, engineers from over 100 disciplines are doing the best work of their lives to reshape one of the world’s largest industries. Their vehicles are covered with sensors that provide information about the world, and the firm leverages techniques and their powerful cloud-based tools help their vehicles understand what’s happening around them and what might happen in the future.

Tools that accelerate the progress of Cruise

Data visualization

Webviz

Webviz visualizes thousands of obstacles and complex choices that the company’s vehicles encounter on the road. By consolidating over a dozen interactive tools into one web-based application, Webviz enables Cruise engineers to analyze vehicle performance and iterate quickly.

2D testing

Scene Edit

Scene Edit creates visual 2D simulation tests for the QA team. By eliminating the need to manually write these tests, Scene Edit provides real-time test feedback and shortens regression testing development cycles by 400%.

Semantic mapping

Cartographer

Cartographer creates and maintains semantic maps of any urban environment. By mapping real-world features such as boundaries, lanes, and traffic controls, the firm sets the AVs up for success with faster real-time analysis.

Real-time operations

Starfleet

Starfleet helps keep track of vehicles in real-time and supports fleet operations at scale. Starfleet deploys code to vehicles remotely assigns vehicle maintenance tasks, dispatches vehicles, and monitors vehicles on the road.

Hardware, meet software: Built for full redundancy

The company’s partners at General Motors and Honda bring vehicle design, engineering, manufacturing, and safety expertise. In turn, Cruise designs AV software and hardware that is unique to vehicles that drive them. At GM’s Lake Orion, MI plant, Cruise deeply integrate electrical, computer, and AV systems to make their vehicles fully redundant.

Distinct features of Cruise

Deep Resources

The firm has raised $7.25 billion in committed capital from General Motors, Honda, SoftBank, T. Rowe Price, and others. These investments help shave years off of their timeline to launch all-electric, self-driving vehicles at scale.

World-class Partners

Cruise’s partners at GM and Honda bring automotive expertise, resources, and credibility. This depth allows them to focus on developing the unique software and hardware needed to make self-driving cars a reality.

Technology Approach

The firm tests itstechnology in San Francisco as their vehicles encounter construction, cyclists, pedestrians, and six-way intersections up to 47 times more frequently than in suburban environments. The firm believes this approach will minimize the amount of time needed to safely qualify the cars for commercial deployment.

Targets growing Market

Today, there are 1.2 billion passenger cars that drive 9.6 trillion miles a year. Analysts estimate this global market to be worth $7 trillion dollars a year. Most experts believe that consumers will shift their behaviors towards on-demand ride-hailing with all-electric, self-driving vehicles. The firm is working to accelerate this shift.

The pre-eminent leader behind the successful journey of Cruise

Dan Ammann is the Chief Executive Officer of Cruise. Previously, he served as president of General Motors (GM). As president of GM, Dan managed the company's business operations around the world and also led the 2016 acquisition of Cruise. Since then, Dan has helped Cruise raise $7.25 billion in committed capital and has attracted SoftBank, Honda, and T. Rowe Price as investors. Prior to GM, Dan spent 16 years on Wall Street, primarily at Morgan Stanley. He is a member of the board of directors of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and holds a Bachelor of Management Studies from the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

“Our deep resources, world-class partners, and technology approach of hardest challenges first have made us an industry leader.”