GM has announced the Cruise AV, their first fully autonomous, production-ready vehicle for use with their driverless ride-hailing service in 2019.

Built on a Chevrolet Bolt EV, the Cruise AV is an electric, self-driving vehicle. No pedals or steering wheel can be found in the cabin, making every seat a passenger seat. The car only uses AI technology to drive. Now that research and design have concluded, GM is looking to get these cars out of their assembly line in Orion, Michigan, and onto the road come next year.

The next obstacles aren't with the vehicle, per say, but with regulations currently in place. It's hard to have a mandatory airbag in the steering wheel when there is no steering wheel. GM submitted safety petitions to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in hopes of finding a happy alternative.

No official statement has been made as to how many Cruise AVs GM is looking to release, but the safety petition is requesting up to 2,500 vehicles. The automaker has stated that they are prepared for mass production as high as hundreds of thousands.

This is assuming everything goes according to plan, of course. New issues could be discovered with the AI systems, which is something you want to absolutely make sure are problem free before commercial use. Or more simply, the safety petition could be rejected. Either way, that would only delay GM's efforts.