March 20, 2018—GM reported that it will invest more than $100 million for the development of its two assembly plants located in Michigan namely, Orion Township and Brownstown, according to Nasdaq.
This investment will be done to upgrade the plants for manufacturing the self-driving vehicle, Cruise AV. The model is a rebranded version of General Motors' Chevrolet Bolt EV.
Starting in 2019, the Cruise AV model will be produced at its Orion Township plant, while the roof modules will be assembled at its Brownstown battery assembly facility. Per management, the team members of these two plants are well prepared to manufacture Cruise AV as they already have experience in producing high-quality battery packs and autonomous test vehicles.
Intended to commercialize in 2019, the self-driving model will function without any driver, steering wheel, manual controls or throttle.
Earlier in January, General Motors appealed the Federal government to approve its self-driving Cruise AV car. Under the petition, the company wants to change 16 existing vehicle safety rules to operate its Cruise AV. It also has to seek approval from individual U.S. states to launch the vehicle.
Over the last two months, the petition has been under review by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and no decision has been taken yet. However, NHTSA is anticipated to announce its decision by the end of 2018 or in 2019.