The McGuire Building at the corner of 10th and Bryant may be soon become home to GM Cruise, the team of engineers working to build a fleet of self-driving cars for the nation's largest automaker.
According to a letter of determination request the property owner recently submitted to the city's zoning administrator, the GM Cruise division is interested in turning 1201 Bryant Street into an "engineering and or development laboratory" for self-driving vehicle technology.
The division's hunt for a new space comes as the firm charges forward with "aggressive plans" to equipped its vehicles with self-driving technology. In January, GM announced a partnership and $500 million investment in Lyft, aimed at building a national network of self-driving ride-sharing cars.
In May, the company announced its acquisition of Cruise Automation Inc., a San Francisco startup dedicated to building autopilot systems for existing vehicles. Since then, they've quipped Chevy Bolt electric vehicles with self-driving technology and begun testing them on streets in the Bay Area and, most recently, Arizona.
At 1201 Bryant St., GM hopes to use the two-story, 140,000-square-foot space to conduct "small test-run manufacturing," develop software and test vehicles. So far, the letter states that the Planning Department has confirmed that these uses are consistent with the area's existing zoning.
This may not be the only self-driving laboratory on the way South of Market. A couple of miles away on the waterfront, a portion of Pier 38 may be leased to self-driving truck technology company Otto for its own research and development, as SocketSite reported last week.
For a deeper look at GM Cruise's plans for 1201 Bryant St., download a copy of the full letter to the zoning administrator here.