GM Cruise says can test Origin in Austin without NHTSA approval

Cruise will begin testing the Origin on public roads in Austin within weeks, Vogt said. A Cruise spokesperson however, told Fortune that the company is permitted test Origins on public roads through the federal FAST Act, which does not require NHTSA approval. Cruise is manufacturing the Origin vehicles in Michigan at GM’s Factory Zero, a facility dedicated to electric vehicles that received $1 billion in state tax incentives. “There’s really no fundamental bottlenecks on the technology side or scaling side that are going to hold back building cars,” Vogt said. As Fortune previously reported, autonomous cars operated by Cruise and Alphabet-subsidiary Waymo have been involved in numerous worrisome traffic incidents in San Francisco and Austin.