To date, Chevy’s self driving car, nicknamed “Albatross,” remains largely a big secret. It was only a few weeks ago when we caught our first clue that GM was working on one. In fact, it is GM’s recently-acquired, self-driving startup, Cruise Automation, that tweeted out dash-camera footage of the car in action.
But that footage didn’t specifically reveal that the Albatross is a self-driving vehicle. A GM spokesperson told The Verge that the car is in fact a Chevy Bolt. And inevitably, someone caught spy photos of the car cruising around. The latest video includes a side shot of Albatross’ interior, so we get to see the car doing all the work.
And work it does. Chevy’s self-driving car navigates the busy streets of San Francisco with no issues. Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise Automation, even blessed us with a few details this time around.
“This video was captured from one of our autonomous vehicles during a series of back-to-back test rides,” says Vogt. “No advance planning was done, and this was captured in a single take. The operator selected a random destination using the Cruise mobile app, pushed a button and the vehicle started moving. Rides like this occur hundreds of times per day across our test fleets.”
The app is particularly interesting, especially considering GM’s recent $500 million dollar investment in ride-sharing company Lyft. And it’s already in use (sort of), as a GM spokesperson told The Verge.
Speaking about the app, it’s said to have been “developed for employees to use on a test basis for obtaining an autonomous ride to and from work. We have been offering this to some of our employees for a couple of months now.”
GM also admitted that its fleet of self-driving vehicles racked up 9,776 miles in California last year. So even though they’ve been uncharacteristically quiet about it, GM seems quite serious about self-driving technology.
