GM looks to catch up in China after getting OK to begin testing autonomous driving tech
General Motors (GM) has recently been given permission to begin testing Level 4 autonomous driving technology in China. Together with self-driving startup Momenta, GM will begin rolling out autonomous Cadillac Lyriqs as it looks to catch up with several other genuine competitors in the country.
For a couple years now, GM has been rolling out a vast electrification strategy across its entire business, including its adjacent technologies like EV platforms, battery development, and even entire transportation segments like last mile deliveries and rideshares.
In the US, GM wholly acquired autonomous robotaxi company Cruise in 2016 and has helped fund its research and development as it has expanded to paid driverless rides in cities like San Francisco while expanding to new territories in California and Austin, Texas.
GM’s CEO Mary Barra has been as bold to state that the American automaker is targeting Tesla as the company to beat in autonomous tech, but what about overseas? Tesla’s Autopilot may be operational here in the States, but in markets like China, companies like XPeng Motors, Baidu, and Pony.Ai are leading the driverless pack.
Following an investment in a Chinese startup in 2021, GM is looking to compete in driverless rides overseas as well, and now has the official permission to do so.
GM, Momenta poised to bring autonomous cars to China
Today’s news dates back to September of 2021, when GM first invested in China’s autonomous driving startup Momenta to the tune of $300 million. Similar to its investment in Cruise, GM’s funds we allocated to Momenta to help accelerate its development of next-generation self driving technologies in China, specifically within future GM vehicles.
GM’s joint venture partner SAIC Motor is also an investor in Momenta – it’s largest investor, actually – and has previously shared intentions to follow a similar path toward developing Level 4 autonomous vehicles in China.
According to CnEVPost, GM shared it has been granted approval to begin L4 autonomous driving tests in certain designated areas around Shanghai, beginning with one year of test rides using Cadillac Lyriqs (seen above) in the city’s Jinqiao area. GM China’s chief technology officer Song Leping said the approved tests will help the automaker learn China’s road scenarios, regulatory requirements and pedestrian habits, hopefully accelerating the delivery of commercialized autonomous solutions for Chinese consumers looking to purchase a GM brand EV.
GM said that in order to further accelerate this development process, it will leverage Momenta’s AI technology to accelerate algorithm iterations, laying the foundation for higher-level autonomous driving tests in the future.
No mention of when the Lyriqs may hit designated roads in Shanghai, but we’d imagine its soon now that GM and Momenta have approval.
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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