General Motors Co (GM) on Wednesday unveiled plans to double revenues by 2030 as it ramps up electric vehicle production, and in 2023 launch an automobile that can be operated hands-free in most situations.
Building on a series of earlier electric vehicle investment announcements, the big US automaker said it was on track to rapidly scale up its electric vehicle (EV) business, which is to include a vehicle priced at US$30,000, cheaper than offerings from Tesla Inc and other rivals.
Executives also described a series of new or expanded businesses in vehicle insurance, digital subscriptions and government sales that should bolster the business.
Photo: Reuters
“The vehicle has become a software platform,” GM CEO Mary Barra said at a briefing with reporters ahead of a two-day investor presentation. “There are so many growth opportunities we have.”
GM announced that its “Ultra Cruise” program, set to launch in 2023 on a premium vehicle, would enable hands-free operation in 95 percent of driving scenarios. It also said it plans to unveil an all-electric Silverado pickup truck at the CES technology event in January.
Earlier on Wednesday, GM said it signed a memorandum of understanding with General Electric Co to collaborate on the sourcing of rare materials used to manufacture electric vehicles and renewable energy equipment.
Barra stated the goal of a “world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” and said the company has transformed itself from “automaker to platform innovator, with customers at the center.”
In June, GM pledged to boost spending on EV and autonomous technology by 30 percent to US$35 billion through 2025, part of a strategy to launch 30 new electric models by that year.
Using US$140 billion as a baseline, GM said it would double annual revenues by the end of the decade, with EV revenues jumping from US$10 billion to about US$90 billion annually by 2030. The company’s outlook also incorporates about US$50 billion in annual revenues from the commercialization of its Cruise business, and another US$20 billion to US$25 billion in annual software and services revenue.
GM executives touted the company’s latest offerings in driver assistance technology, with Ultra Cruise set to debut on premium vehicles for the 2023 season, which is scheduled to be introduced late next year. They declined to name models that would have this function.
“Customers will be able to travel truly hands free with Ultra Cruise across nearly every road, including city streets and subdivision streets, and paved rural roads in addition to highways,” GM said in a statement.
The program has 360-degree perception around the vehicle and employs cameras, radar and sensors to enable a vehicle to follow speed limits, automatically change lanes and avoid close objects.
GM said that the new program builds on its Super Cruise driver-assistance feature, which is currently available on the Cadillac and is to be expanded to six models next year and to 22 by 2023.
China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) plans to start mass-producing its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip in the first quarter of next year, even as it struggles to make enough chips due to US restrictions, two people familiar with the matter said. The telecoms conglomerate has sent samples of the Ascend 910C — its newest chip, meant to rival those made by US chipmaker Nvidia Corp — to some technology firms and started taking orders, the sources told Reuters. The 910C is being made by top Chinese contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) on its N+2 process, but a lack
NVIDIA PLATFORM: Hon Hai’s Mexican facility is to begin production early next year and a Taiwan site is to enter production next month, Nvidia wrote on its blog Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s biggest electronics manufacturer, yesterday said it is expanding production capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) servers based on Nvidia Corp’s Blackwell chips in Taiwan, the US and Mexico to cope with rising demand. Hon Hai’s new AI-enabled factories are to use Nvidia’s Omnivores platform to create 3D digital twins to plan and simulate automated production lines at a factory in Hsinchu, the company said in a statement. Nvidia’s Omnivores platform is for developing industrial AI simulation applications and helps bring facilities online faster. Hon Hai’s Mexican facility is to begin production early next year and the
Who would not want a social media audience that grows without new content? During the three years she paused production of her short do-it-yourself (DIY) farmer’s lifestyle videos, Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi (李子柒), 34, has seen her YouTube subscribers increase to 20.2 million from about 14 million. While YouTube is banned in China, her fan base there — although not the size of YouTube’s MrBeast, who has 330 million subscribers — is close to 100 million across the country’s social media platforms Douyin (抖音), Sina Weibo (新浪微博) and Xiaohongshu (小紅書). When Li finally released new videos last week — ending what has
AVIATION BOOM: CAL is to renew its passenger and cargo fleets starting next year on record profits as aviation continues to return to pre-pandemic levels China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) yesterday said it is optimistic about next year’s business outlook, as the airline continues to renew its fleet on expectations that global passenger traffic would maintain steady growth and air cargo demand would remain strong. From next year to 2028, the airline is to welcome a new Boeing Co 787 fleet — 18 787-9 and six 787-10 passenger aircraft — to cover regional and medium to long-haul destinations, CAL chairman Hsieh Shih-chien (謝世謙) said at an investors’ conference in Taipei. The airline would also continue to introduce Airbus SE 321neo passenger planes and Boeing 777F cargo jets,
RSS