Tesla and Waymo may be two of the most well-known names in the self-driving community (particularly the latter), but that doesn't mean other companies aren't making major progress in the industry as well. Indeed, carmaker General Motors' (GM) Cruise division could soon become a force to be reckoned with in the realm of autonomous cars.
Despite a few hurdles with Cruise's self-driving vehicles last year – they detected and reacted to obstacles that didn't exist, for example – the GM subsidiary is reportedly planning to grow significantly by the end of 2019.
According to Reuters, Cruise will double its staff over the next 9 months, which should bring its total number of employees to roughly 2,000.
Given GM's larger ambitions, such as its plans to launch a true autonomous taxi service this year, that extra manpower probably won't go to waste.
If the self-driving industry's history is anything to go by, it will probably take GM an awful lot of time and effort to accomplish its goals on time. As such, the more people it has working to make its vision a reality, the better.
In addition to doubling its employee headcount, Cruise will also "triple" its San Francisco-based office space; a necessity given the massive number of workers the company plans to hire in the coming months.