Gas powered vehicles aren’t going anywhere soon, but GM eyes an electric future. Half of the 8,600 designers and engineers who work on the products and controls that make GM cars and trucks move—literally—are involved with alternative and electric propulsion systems. Tightening emissions laws are providing much of the motivation for major automakers, GM included, to develop electric vehicles. But the automaker also says it sees an opportunity to use the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, and possibly even the Chevy Bolt, as self-driving vehicles that can be used as an autonomous transportation-as-a-service.