Thousands of modified Chevrolet Bolt cars may hit the roads next year, as part of a major deployment by General Motors to test its self-driving system on public roads.

GM, along with ridesharing app Lyft, will test the cars and possibly pick up members of the public, similar to Uber’s self-driving program in Pennsylvania and Arizona, according to a report from Reuters.

The program will supposedly be split between Lyft and GM’s car-sharing service, Maven.

The deployment of thousands of self-driving vehicles on public roads may improve the public’s perception of the technology. It could also boost GM’s standing in the self-driving industry, where it is currently perceived as behind Google’s Waymo, Tesla, and Uber.

GM has not commented on the report, Lyft also declined to comment.

GM has made a few major moves to ensure it does not fall behind in the self-driving race, including the near $1 billion acquisition of Cruise Automation, the $500 million paid for a minority stake in Lyft, and new billion dollar research facilities.

See Also: General Motors begins self-driving tests on Michigan public roads

Even with these major investments, GM has yet to show the same levels of progress and sophistication that its self-driving rivals are capable of. It does, however, have a few dozen Chevrolet Bolt cars on San Francisco roads, which are reaching Level 3 autonomy.

GM has not been as detailed in its plans for the future as Ford and Tesla, who have both said they want to achieve Level 4 autonomy in the next few years. This major deployment of test cars could be a signal that GM wants to remove humans from the driving experience, replacing car ownership with rental and taxi services.

Autonomous cars might be road ready in less than five years, but it will take another decade before the general public are allowed to buy them, according to Ford’s head of research, Ken Washington.

The comment adds to the growing fear that automakers will not sell autonomous vehicles to customers, instead relying on ride-sharing and shuttle services. There are rumors that Ford will use its FordPass service for ride-sharing or launch a new platform soon.

See Also: Industry split on when first commercial self-driving vehicle will be ready

Ford CEO Mark Fields said customers will be able to purchase autonomous cars by 2025, making Washington’s new estimate of 2026 to 2031 rather conservative.

“It’s really hard to guess and predict the pace of the technology,” said Washington at SAE WCX World Congress Experience. “Our current view is the adoption rates will be relatively gradual.”

Still skipping Level 3 autonomy

Ford has already confirmed it will skip Level 3 autonomy, the mid-level between full human and driverless control. That was seen by some as a decision to avoid customers taking control of the vehicle. It will instead shoot for Level 5, which would revoke all human control.

The company stepped up its investment in the self-driving industry last month with the acquisition for Argo AI for $1 billion, to be paid over five years. It looked like a major acquisition of talent from Ford, to keep up with Google, Tesla, and other tech firms.

At the event, Washington insisted that the auto-industry are not behind when it comes to autonomous tech innovation. He also said that tech firms are now looking for auto partnerships, to “bring it home.”

In less than 15 years, one quarter of all U.S. travel could be in shared, electric self-driving vehicles, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group.

The impact will be felt most in cities where over one million people live, as these will be the launch locations for driverless ride-sharing services. Ford CEO Mark Fields has already said the company will launch a ride-sharing platform in cities by 2021.

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Initial public backlash to driverless cars will subside, according to BCG, once the economic argument becomes clear to U.S. commuters. In the study, the researchers said the everyday commuter in Chicago may be able to save $7,000 per year by moving to a self-driving, ride-sharing platform in the future.

“The automotive industry is on the brink of a major transformation, and it’ll be here faster than people realize,” Justin Rose, a BCG partner leading its digital efforts for industrial companies, said in a statement. “For millions of Americans living in large cities, the next vehicle they purchase may be the last car they ever own.”

BCG expects automakers and tech firms to revoke control and ownership of the vehicle in the future, moving instead to a more elongated profit model, ride-sharing. Instead of a one-time, large payment for the car, consumers would pay each time they use the vehicle.

Differing business models

There are different economic models for automakers to choose from. One could be a lease model where the consumer pays to use the car for a certain amount of time; an alternative could see consumers pay for every ride and change cars each time.

BCG has high expectations for the self-driving industry. It expects 4.7 million autonomous cars to replace five million conventional vehicles on the road today, and believes the new driverless vehicles to travel 1.5 trillion kilometers.

It is hard to judge the exact time self-driving cars will become the vehicle of choice for commuters. Infrastructure and regulations could hold automakers back a few years, although the U.S. government and telecommunication providers have both shown interest in expediting the deployment of autonomous vehicles. Most estimates are between 2025 – 2035.

The U.K. government has invested £109 million ($136 million) into a mixture of self-driving and low carbon projects, aimed at spurring innovation and reducing the country’s footprint.

A public-private program for low carbon projects, called Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), received the lion’s share of the investment. Seven projects, led by BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, and smaller companies, received £62 million ($77 million). The Office for Low Emissions Vehicles awarded £16 million ($20 million) to seven other low-carbon projects.

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One of the projects covers the development of high-power batteries for electric vehicles, another focuses on reducing the weight of EVs to make them cheaper and more accessible.

£31 million ($39 million) went to the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), which sent the cash to 24 projects. The CCAV is an industry-backed program and receives half of its funding from private ventures.

Hello, Manchester!

The investment will lead to the development of autonomous pods and cars that travel between Stockport train station and Manchester Airport. Other projects include road-ready driverless vehicles and industry machines that could be made autonomous, like forklifts.

“Low carbon and driverless cars are the future and as a government, we are determined through the Industrial Strategy to build on our strengths and put the UK at the forefront of this revolution,” said Business Secretary Greg Clark. “Investment in this technology is an integral part of this government’s efforts, to ensure the UK auto sector remains competitive and world-leading.”

The U.K. has been at the forefront of autonomous vehicle development in Europe. It legalized self-driving last year on public roads and Innovate UK, a government-backed investor and incubator, has spent millions on startups working on autonomous technology.

General Motors announced on Thursday a major expansion of its self-driving operations in Silicon Valley.

The automaker intends to hire 1,100 people and double the research and development space available for its self-driving subsidiary, Cruise Automation.

See Also: Automotive 2.0: The new road ahead to autonomous vehicles

GM has, in collaboration with Cruise, been testing 50 Chevrolet Bolt cars in San Francisco, Arizona, and Detroit for over a year. Rumors suggest GM will heavily expand the amount of self-driving vehicles on the road next year, to potentially number in the thousands.

“As autonomous car technology matures, our company’s talent needs will continue to increase,” said Cruise Automation’s CEO, Kyle Vogt. “Accessing the world-class talent pool that the San Francisco Bay Area offers is one of the many reasons we plan to grow our presence in the state.”

GM following Ford?

The expansion comes a few weeks after Ford, its main competitor in the U.S., announced a $1 billion investment in Argo AI, to be sent over the next five years. The investment gives Ford access to a talent-filled startup working on all sorts of autonomous technology.

General Motors has not set a clear roadmap for its self-driving program, unlike Ford, which wants to have a fully driverless vehicle on the road by 2021. Both automakers are likely to launch ride-sharing services for the self-driving cars, GM may use Lyft as the default service.

Other competitors, including Waymo and Tesla, want to see self-driving cars on the road earlier, but lack the manufacturing (Waymo) and distribution (Tesla) prowess of GM and Ford.