UPDATED 19:07 EDT / FEBRUARY 19 2017

EMERGING TECH

GM reportedly to test ‘thousands’ of self-driving vehicles with Lyft in 2018

General Motors Corp. is set to test “thousands” of self-driving vehicles in partnership with ride-hailing partner Lyft Inc. beginning in 2018, according to a report published Friday.

Reuters, quoting “two sources familiar with the automaker’s plans,” claims that the test will see specially equipped versions of the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle being used by Lyft in general revenue service in “several states.” The auto giant is said to have no plans so far to sell the vehicles to the general public but is instead targeting fleets for private companies and ride-hailing companies.

Lyft decline to comment on the story, while GM said in a statement only that it doesn’t provide “specific details on potential future products or technology rollout plans.” But previously it has said its self-driving vehicle technology will appear in an “on-demand ridesharing network application sooner than you might think.”

GM and Lyft were first rumored to be testing self-driving vehicles together in May last year with a program that would see the vehicles deployed to “a yet-to-be disclosed city” following GM’s $500 million investment in Lyft in January 2016. While GM vehicles are currently not on the roads taking customers, the company was set to begin testing its own self-driving cars in Michigan following the state’s decision to legalize the operation of autonomous vehicles last December. It’s not clear how far that testing has progressed.

Rival Uber Technologies Inc. started testing self-driving vehicles to collect passengers in Pittsburgh in the third quarter of 2016 before extending the test to San Francisco in December. Uber was subsequently forced to abandon the San Francisco test because it didn’t have a permit the state of California said it required, and instead relocated it to Arizona just before Christmas.

Suggesting that it may target San Francisco as its first test market, GM has already applied for a permit to operate on California roads, according to Ars Technica.

Image courtesy of General Motors

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