GM wants to test autonomous vehicles on public streets

General Motors President Dan Ammann urged more local and state governments to allow testing of autonomous vehicles on public streets, saying doing so is the only way to ensure they will be ready for public use. "To make autonomous vehicles the best they can be and the safest they can be, we really need to be testing on public streets," Ammann said during an address to the Economic Club of Chicago at the Chicago Auto Show. "It can be limited to a geo-fenced area, but it needs to be public streets in a real world environment." Ammann said the development of autonomous vehicles is in the public interest, citing the numerous safety and quality of life benefits they can produce. GM has invested heavily in the development of self-driving vehicles, most notably buying the autonomous tech startup Cruise Automation last year, reportedly for $1 billion.