Basic Motors CEO Mary Barra just did the Earth equivalent of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin spaceflight previous yr. Last 7 days, she took a experience in a driverless vehicle built by her business for the initially time with no a safety driver. In a YouTube video posted by GM’s autonomous driving subsidiary Cruise on Thursday, Barra was seen screening a driverless Chevrolet Bolt EV in San Francisco together with Cruise cofounder and interim CEO Kyle Vogt.

“I always considered that we’d be doing it. But to truly be doing it, it is just surreal,” she stated to a digital camera.

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The driverless Chevy Bolt, referred to as Tostada, is a single of a fleet of autonomous autos which Cruise has been testing at night time in San Francisco due to the fact November. The enterprise programs to commence commercial operation of the fleet later this calendar year.

“I genuinely feel that the apprehension some individuals feel they have is heading to dissipate extremely immediately when they get the encounter,” Barra claimed about five minutes into her experience.

The online video also displays two other GM executives, President Mark Reuss and Interaction Main Craig Buchholz, riding in an additional driverless car or truck named Disco.

Cruise is just one of the primary application providers partnered up with legacy automakers to push for the commercialization of autonomous driving technological innovation. (Cruise was obtained by GM in 2016.) Nevertheless, the definition of autonomous driving has usually been unclear. In some instances, it refers to sophisticated driver-support units that nevertheless need a human driver prepared to take about at any time. In other people, it refers to driverless motor vehicles that are only allowed to go in a pre-mapped, restricted spot.

The industry just recently arrived at an settlement on branding. Earlier this week, the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, a Washington, D.C.-centered team lobbying for autonomous driving legislation, dropped the phrase “self-driving” in its moniker and rebranded by itself to Autonomous Motor vehicle Marketplace Association (AVIA).

AVIA has about a dozen member businesses, such as Cruise, Waymo, Aurora and Zoox, among the other individuals. The title adjust was seen as an exertion to distinguish systems made by these companies from Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” deal, which is in reality a Level 2 driver-assistance process.

Even though it didn’t mention Tesla in the announcement, AVIA said its new title greater aligns with its members’ dedication “to precision and consistency in how the marketplace, policymakers, journalists and the public converse about autonomous driving technological know-how.”

“The affiliation recently referred to as on all stakeholders to clearly distinguish amongst AVs and driver-assist to strengthen purchaser belief and knowledge,” the team stated in a assertion on Wednesday. “AVIA advocates for autonomous autos, which conduct the overall driving job.”