General Motors CoCruise, a self-driving subsidiary, made a bold forecast on Wednesday about the profit potential of its robotic taxi business, saying revenue could rise to $50 billion within six years and profit margins could reach about 40 per cent.

Dan Ammann, chief executive of Cruise, said: "We are launching better products to a really huge market at a lower cost and we can scale up very quickly."

Cruise's expected growth is an important part of General Motors Co's goal of doubling revenue to $280 billion by 2030. Mary Barra, chief executive of General Motors Co, outlined the plan in her speech and said the company wanted to become not only a carmaker but also a software-based service provider.