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GM's SURUS self-driving truck chassis could be a boon to disaster relief

Flexible autonomous fuel-cell architecture could form the basis of emergency power generation stations, ambulances and freight delivery vehicles.

Chris Paukert
Following stints in TV news production and as a record company publicist, Chris spent most of his career in automotive publishing. Mentored by Automobile Magazine founder David E. Davis Jr., Paukert succeeded Davis as editor-in-chief of Winding Road, a pioneering e-mag, before serving as Autoblog's executive editor from 2008 to 2015. Chris is a Webby and Telly award-winning video producer and has served on the jury of the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. He joined the CNET team in 2015, bringing a small cache of odd, underappreciated cars with him.
Chris Paukert
General Motors SURUS truck chassis
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GM's SURUS is a flexible, fully autonomous fuel-cell truck chassis. Note its four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering.

GM SURUS
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Here's a rendering of SURUS as a mobile power generation station, including an array of solar panels.

GM SURUS
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GM even envisions SURUS as an off-road autonomous ambulance. Something of its size could likely handle multiple patients simultaneously.

GM SURUS
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The SURUS has serious ground clearance and aggressive tires for use in hostile environments.

General Motors SURUS truck chassis
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A chassis cab like this is just one of dozens of potential uses for SURUS.

GM SURUS
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SURUS could provide self-driving cargo supplies, as with this freight box configuration

General Motors SURUS truck chassis
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Fully by-wire construction means that you could plug in almost any type of bodywork on top of SURUS.

General Motors SURUS truck chassis
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Here's a closeup of one of SURUS' control panels.

GM SURUS
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Here's SURUS' hydrogen refueling port. The vehicle is designed to go 400 miles between fill-ups.

GM SURUS
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Think of SURUS as a plug-and-play chassis, a blank slate.

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