witness panel for today at hearings will include mike abelson, vice president of global strategy for general motors, anders karrberg, vice president of government affairs at volvo cars group. and the senior information scientists and read avco designer of decision-making, mister gill -- gil pratt, ceo it toyota research institute and mister joseph okpaku, vice president of public policy at left. appreciate you being here today. begin the round of questions starting with mike abelson, you will be recognized for five minutes and appreciate you being with us today. >> thank you, mister chairman. good morning. my name is mike abelson, vice president of global mobility strategy for general motors but i want to thank chairman walton and ranking member pallone, subcommittee members, for inviting me to tell you about general motors vision for the coming transformation in mobility and the opportunities self driving vehicles hold for the future safety of the american public. if i could come up i would like to relate a personal story that struck close to the heart of myself and general motors c

abelson, if i could start my questions with you. can you discuss gm's timeline for deploying self-driving cars? >> pull that mike right up there. >> we currently have deployed in three cities vehicles that are operating at a level 4 automation with drivers in them. we are collecting data on how the vehicles operate. when we have convinced ourselves that the vehicles are operating properly, and are at a level that would inspire confidence in the technology, we will then make those vehicles available for members of the public to experience. at that pointed we'll continue to collect data on a wider scale. and only when we have collected enough data to convince ourselves that we're truly ready to go driverless, will we then remove the drivers from the vehicles and let them operate as self-driving vehicles. >> let me follow up. cybersecurity is a huge issue out there across what we deal with in this subcommittee, and across the congress today. can you tell me, or go into detail how you're looking at ensuring against cyber threats? >> cyb