General Motors to start autonomous vehicle testing in Michigan

General Motors CEO announced on Thursday that the Detroit-based automotive manufacturer will soon start testing autonomous vehicles in Michigan.

CEO Mary Bara announced in a live press conference that GM would begin testing autonomous vehicles on public roads in Michigan. Bara said the testing is made possible thanks to Governor Rick Snyder's signing of a bill last week to allow autonomous testing.

"GM will immediately begin autonomous vehicle testing on public roads in Michigan. in June, GM began testing autonomous Chevrolet bolt EVs on public roads in San Francisco and then Scottsdale, Arizona. Today we have more than 40 vehicles testing in these two cities," Bara said.

Bara said the testing has been underway at the technical center in Warren and will soon expand to public roads on the outskirts of the campus. From there, Bara said testing will expand to the rest of Metro Detroit.

"Detroit will be one of the primary areas for real world testing of autonomous vehicles. This will be our main location for cold weather - and I think we're demonstrating that today - as well as winter driving conditions. By adding Michigan to our public testing program, we're ensuring that our EVs can operate safely across a full range of road, weather, and climate conditions," Bara said.

The other announcement on Thursday was that the next generation of autonomous vehicles will be made at the Orion assembly plant starting in 2017 and will be built with full autonomous technology.