GM is targeting a vehicle development cycle of roughly two years from concept to production, down from a traditional four to five years, though no timeline for achieving this goal was detailed. "All of these developments are building us the car of the future," Barra said at the event.
The automaker cited increasing pressure from abroad. Consulting firm AlixPartners has estimated Chinese automakers bring vehicles to market twice as fast as traditional manufacturers, with up to a 30 percent cost advantage and up to 50 percent less investment.
At the heart of the new strategy is a significant increase in onboard computing power. GM's next-generation vehicles, both electric and internal combustion, will feature 40 times the computing power and up to 50 percent faster cellular connectivity than current systems. This new architecture, designed to support over-the-air updates, onboard AI, and advanced driver assistance, will debut on the $130,000 Cadillac Escalade IQ EV in 2028.
On the self-driving front, GM reconfirmed its goal of delivering "personal autonomy," allowing drivers to take their eyes off the road on highways, beginning with the same Escalade IQ EV model. "Our vision is that eventually every vehicle should drive itself or its occupants anywhere," Anderson said.
The company also detailed its fourth-generation electric vehicles, which GM says will be 25 percent more aerodynamic and 15 percent lighter. Anderson confirmed these models will exclusively use GM's new lithium manganese rich (LMR) battery chemistry, developed after virtually testing over 300,000 digital designs.
In the near term, GM announced its planned OnStar AI assistant, a proprietary system that will replace the current reliance on Google's Gemini. It will launch as a subscription service on the 2027 Cadillac Lyriq EV via an over-the-air update. "In the age of AI, data is currency," Anderson said, pointing to the company's decades of engineering and OnStar data as a competitive advantage.