Skip to main content

GM may launch robot taxi services across the U.S. sooner than you think

“Zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion.” That’s what GM is aiming for with its self-driving car plan, and on Thursday, November 30, it elaborated on how it intends to move toward its ambition.

The company said that by 2019 it can have in place a driverless ride-hailing service in multiple cities, a proclamation that will have the likes of Uber, Lyft, and just about every cab driver working today, sitting up and taking notice.

Recommended Videos

The service would use fully autonomous electric cars — like the self-driving Chevy Bolt it’s developing — and could, with widespread rider adoption and falling electric-vehicle costs, charge as little as $1 a mile by 2025, about a third of what existing ride-hailing services charge.

GM’s service could launch in any major city across the country depending on demand, though of course local regulators would have the final say.

The automaker said that its most recent projections suggest its robot taxi service would have the potential to make more profit than its current vehicle sales business. Signaling what could develop into a major change to its business model, GM president Dan Ammann told investors this week that whereas now the company receives an average of $30,000 over the lifetime of a new vehicle that it sells, that figure could balloon to several hundred thousands of dollars for a self-driving car deployed as part of a revenue-generating ride-hailing service.

GM hit the gas with its autonomous car plans in 2016 with the creation of its Autonomous Vehicle Development Team, following up soon after with the acquisition of startup Cruise Automation for around $1 billion.

Interestingly, at the start of 2016, GM invested $500 million in ride-hailing service Lyft, which is also developing robot taxis. Ammann declined to mention if Lyft would be involved in its own ride-hailing venture using driverless cars. Apparently keen to keep its options open, Lyft also partnered with Ford recently, with the same vision of developing autonomous cars for a driverless taxi service.

The GM president certainly sounded bullish about his plans for a ride-hailing service using robot taxis, saying, “If we continue on our current rate of change we will be ready to deploy this technology, in large scale, in the most complex environments, in 2019.”

With Uber and Waymo, among others, also moving toward launching full-fledged autonomous taxi services, the race is on to be the first to make it happen and make it work. GM has for the first time spelled out its ambitions regarding its own effort and we can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
2026 BMW iX first drive: I expected BMW to tone things down, but thankfully it didn’t
2026 BMW iX front quarter view.

Electric cars have given automakers a rare opportunity to throw out design and engineering conventions in favor of something truly new, and few automakers have exploited that opportunity like BMW.

The German automaker’s first attempt at a volume-production electric vehicle was the BMW i3, a small hatchback that dispensed with all expectations of what a car wearing BMW’s blue-and-white badge should be, with a novel shape and engineering to match its electric powertrain. While the i3 wasn’t a sales success, its spirit lives on in an EV at the opposite end of the price and size spectrum.

Read more
Toyota unveils 2026 bZ: A smarter, longer-range electric SUV
toyota bz improved bz4x 2026 0007 1500x1125

Toyota is back in the electric SUV game with the 2026 bZ, a major refresh of its bZ4X that finally delivers on two of the biggest demands from EV drivers: more range and faster charging.
The headline news is the improved driving range. Toyota now estimates up to 314 miles on a single charge for the front-wheel-drive model with the larger 74.7-kWh battery—about 60 miles more than the outgoing bZ4X. All-wheel-drive variants also get a boost, with up to 288 miles of range depending on trim.
Charging speeds haven’t increased in terms of raw kilowatts (still capped at 150 kW for DC fast charging), but Toyota has significantly improved how long peak speeds are sustained. With preconditioning enabled—especially helpful in colder weather—the new bZ can charge from 10% to 80% in about 30 minutes. Also new: Plug and Charge support for automatic payment at compatible stations and full adoption of the North American Charging Standard (NACS), meaning access to Tesla Superchargers will be standard by 2026.
Under the hood, or rather the floor, Toyota has swapped in higher-performance silicon carbide components to improve efficiency and power delivery. The AWD version now produces up to 338 horsepower and sprints from 0–60 mph in a brisk 4.9 seconds.
Toyota didn’t stop at just the powertrain. The exterior has been cleaned up, with body-colored wheel arches replacing the black cladding, and a sleeker front fascia. Inside, a larger 14-inch touchscreen now houses climate controls, giving the dash a more refined and less cluttered appearance. There’s also more usable storage thanks to a redesigned center console.
With the 2026 bZ, Toyota seems to be responding directly to critiques of the bZ4X. It’s faster, more efficient, and more driver-friendly—finally bringing Toyota’s EV efforts up to speed.

Read more
Cheaper EVs ahead? GM and LG say new battery cells are the key
2025 Chevrolet Equinox EV front quarter view.

General Motors and LG Energy Solution have announced a new phase in their ongoing partnership: developing a new battery cell chemistry that could significantly lower the cost of electric vehicles. The joint effort centers on lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) battery cells, a variation of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) that’s gaining popularity for being more affordable and less reliant on expensive materials like nickel and cobalt.

This is a big deal because battery costs are still the single largest expense in producing EVs. According to GM and industry experts, LMFP cells could help bring the cost of electric vehicles close to — or even on par with — gas-powered cars. The goal? Making EVs accessible to a broader range of drivers without sacrificing range or performance.

Read more