Tag Archives: general motors

Cadillac’s single-seater eVTOL drone unveiled at CES is the closest thing to personal jetpacks

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Unveiled alongside quite a few other automobiles from General Motors, the Cadillac eVTOL really stood out as the company’s first attempt at air-based transportation. It also falls squarely under GM’s new motto moving forward of the 3 Zeros – Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, and Zero Congestion.

The Cadillac eVTOL is best described as a flying taxi made for quick commutes between landing-zones. Running on a 90kWh motor that powers 4 propellers, the eVTOL seats one person (sort of like a jetpack albeit much bigger, and with fans instead of thrusters) and transports them autonomously while simultaneously juggling air-to-air and air-to-ground communication so you, the rider, don’t really have to do much aside from program your destination and then admire your city from up above. I don’t need to tell you that it would also make for some stellar aerial photos for the ‘gram.

Designer: Cadillac (General Motors)

GM has ditched plans to build Nikola’s hybrid fuel-cell pickup

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General Motors has ditched plans to build Nikola's electric/fuel-cell hybrid pickup and it will no longer take a stake in the company. Nikola has announced a revamped, non-binding agreement that should see it use GM's Hydrotec fuel-cell system in its...

GM pulls out of Trump administration’s fuel emissions lawsuit in California

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General Motors won’t support the Trump administration’s attempts to strip California of the right to set its own fuel emissions standard. In a letter obtained by The New York Times to some of the country’s largest environmental groups, the automaker...

Walmart will test self-driving delivery services with electric cars

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Walmart isn’t about to let rivals like Amazon delve further into self-driving deliveries without offering a response. As CNBC reports, the retailer has teamed up with GM’s Cruise for a self-driving delivery pilot due to start early 2021 in Scottsdale...

GM will test fully driverless cars in SF later this year

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General Motors and its self-driving car unit Cruise say they’ll start testing unmanned autonomous vehicles in San Francisco by the end of 2020 (via NBC News). On Thursday, the subsidiary said it received a permit from California’s Department of Motor...

General Motors’ transparent 1939 Pontiac blends history with automotive design

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There is no way you cannot look at this transparent 1939 Pontiac by General Motors that invites you inside the mechanical marvel that will leave even non-automotive folk as I enthused. The Pontiac earned the nickname ‘Ghost’ because of the exposed insides, it was the first fully transparent car in America created by the famous industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes who was dubbed as the man who designed the future.

It was showcased at a New York exhibition about innovative transportation systems that offered a look into the future of automotive inventions. “Created to show the rigid interior bracing and other features complete with windows that can be raised and lowered, doors that can be opened and closed. The only material lacking being the insulation normally applied to the inner surface working with new material, a synthetic crystal-clear plastic,” stated the original press release in 1939. General Motors built it in partnership with Rohm & Hass, the company that made plexiglass, for a production cost of $25,000. The plexiglass created an exact replica that replaced the outer sheet metal and made the car transparent. The structural metal underneath featured a copper wash and all the hardware was chrome plated to give it a nicer visual aesthetic since all of it is visible. To complement the copper and chrome finish, the tires and the rubber moldings were all made in white to give it an overall clean look.

The 1939 Pontiac was loaned to the Smithsonian Museum during WWII and then auctioned in 2011 for a staggering $308,000 considering the original construction cost. “It shows at a glance the hidden value built into Pontiac cars,” said the car’s motor division in another press release. It is a beautiful look into the past that was actually trying to show us the future only to realize how different things are now (even without taking 2020 into account). We may not have adopted the transparent car trend but we are moving to electric cars, however, the vintage Pontiac was a marvel that taught so many about the intricate details of automotive design and working.

Designer: General Motors

GM’s Maven car-sharing service is shutting down

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The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed GM’s Maven car-sharing service. Customers are receiving notices that Maven is no longer available “effective immediately.” In its messaging, the company cited business performance, the industry and “what’s going on w...