GM’s Cruise to Unveil First Car Built to Operate With No Driver

Cruise LLC, the autonomous-car startup majority owned by General Motors Co., will show its first vehicle designed to operate without a driver on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said.

The vehicle Cruise has been developing along with GM is a purpose-built autonomous vehicle designed to be more spacious and passenger-friendly than a conventional, human-driven car. It lacks traditional controls like pedals and a steering wheel, freeing up room for commuters who will share rides, said the people, who asked not to be named ahead of the vehicle’s unveiling at an event in San Francisco.

Ray Wert, a Cruise spokesman, said the company won’t be showing a conventional car and declined to comment further.

Cruise has for years been testing modified Chevrolet Bolt compact electric cars with test drivers at the wheel. The vehicle being shown Tuesday likely will be used when GM and Cruise start operating the ride-sharing service they postponed last year.

Cruise Chief Executive Officer Dan Ammann said in July the company wanted to make sure the technology was completely safe and to prepare the public and government for driverless vehicles. He said Cruise had a “clear line of sight” to getting all of the regulatory approvals that would be needed.

Cruise has a permit from California to test its autonomous vehicles on public roads. Its executives have been talking with state officials about creating rules that will allow the company to charge for rides in self-driving cars.

Cruise has raised $7.25 billion from investors including Honda Motor Co., Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc.