GM’s Cruise sets special self-driving event for November 28

GM’s Cruise self-driving unit is hosting a special event at the end of November, the company revealed today via invites to select media. The tagline for the event is “Come experience our vision of a self-driving future,” and while advance details are scarce, it sounds likely that Cruise will take the opportunity to allow media and other guests to experience their pilot self-driving ride hailing service.

The service is currently operating in San Francisco, using the self-driving Chevrolet Bolt vehicles that Cruise has equipped with autonomous hardware and software for self-driving. It’s only available to Cruise employees, however, in a pilot that offers pickups and drop-offs anywhere in San Francisco, and which uses an app for hailing vehicles.

Cruise has talked previously about how its testing experience in the dense urban environment of San Francisco has given it an edge in terms of optimizing its systems for the most difficult use cases faced by autonomous driving. The company also announced earlier this year that it’s going to begin building cars specifically designed for autonomous use at scale with GM, using the Bolt platform as a base.

If it’s gearing up to show people outside the company what it’s like to use its ride hailing service, it’s possible we’ll also get an update regarding a timeline for a public-facing service deployment.