GM already talks future in flying cars
General Motors has yet to deploy self-driving cars, but it’s already talking flying cars. GM has had conversations with “air taxi” companies about using the carmaker’s autonomous and electric vehicle technology to create flying cars, Mike Abelson, GM’s vice president of global strategy, said Thursday at the FT Future of the Car Summit USA in Detroit. “There will be some sort of air transport that will get integrated with this AV/EV technology,” said Abelson. The idea isn’t that farfetched given that Detroitarea industrial engineer Sanjay Dhall has already built a prototype, which he’s yet to test. Some companies are building and testing flying cars, including Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce. But given the complexity to design, engineer and produce flying cars en masse, Abelson acknowledged, “It’s some years away” before widespread production and sales of such a vehicle get off the ground. Abelson spoke on GM’s vision for its future vehicle lineup at FT’s summit. He said consumers can expect 20 new all-electric GM vehicles in the next five years. GM will also deploy a fleet of self-driving electric cars as part of a ride-sharing platform in a major U.S. city next year. Despite those advancements, GM’s gasoline-powered cars and trucks will be the main revenue stream for the company for at least the next two decades, he said. Electric pickups? While electric vehicles sales are a small part of GM’s business, Abelson said, “EV adoption isn’t optional, it’s mandatory” going forward, Abelson said.