GM promises smarter cars, faster updates, and autonomous dry-cleaning runs

General Motors used its Onward event to present a plan to make vehicle development faster and cars more software-driven, using AI, a central computer system and new battery technology. The company says these changes will help it compete with technology-focused Chinese automakers and bring eyes-off autonomous driving to its best-selling trucks and SUVs.

GM says it wants to cut development cycles from four to five years to two, and tested more than 300,000 virtual battery designs before selecting a lithium manganese-rich chemistry. The new cells are claimed to offer 33 per cent higher energy density than lithium iron phosphate batteries at comparable cost, while the central computer is said to provide 40 times the computing power and reduce wiring by 30 per cent. The article notes that GM has made similar promises about smarter cars and faster updates before.