WHO’S NO. 2?
Tesla’s Autopilot trails General Motors in automated driving systems rankings
Consumer Reports study gives top marks to Super Cruise system for Cadillacs
Tesla’s much ballyhooed Autopilot may get the lion’s share of attention when it comes to automated driving systems, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best of the bunch.
That honor, according to Consumer Reports, goes to Super Cruise, an automated driving system (ADS) developed by General Motors and used in its Cadillac vehicles. Consumer Reports ranked Tesla’s Autopilot second in a series of tests of four of what it called “the most capable and well-known (systems) on the market.” Tesla said it tested Super Cruise in the Cadillac CT6, and evaluated Autopilot in Tesla’s Model 3, Model S and Model X cars.
Consumer Reports ranked Nissan/ Infiniti’s Pro Pilot Assist as the thirdbest system, and gave its fourth-place ranking to Volvo’s Pilot Assist system.
In giving its top nod to GM/Cadillac’s Super Cruise, Consumer Reports said the system “does the best job of balancing high-tech capabilities with ensuring that the car is operated safely and that the driver is paying attention.” Among the features of Super Cruise are a camera that focuses on a driver’s eyes, and if it determines the driver isn’t paying enough attention to the road, it will then send out a series of escalating alerts from red lights on the steering wheel to a vibrating seat before the system slows down the vehicle.
Consumer Reports added that Super Cruise “is the only system that provides ample warning to the driver as it approaches merging lanes, off-ramps, and difficult traffic patterns.” Super Cruise is also only available in Cadillacs and for use on highways that GM has mapped. If a driver tries to use Super Cruise on a road that hasn’t been mapped out, the system will give an alert and say why it can’t be engaged.
Consumer Reports said that Super Cruise and Tesla’s Auto pilot were the “clear winners” among the systems it tested, and gave Autopilot high marks for its ease of use and overall capabilities.
However, Autopilot got dinged for the length of time it took towarn a driver to respond to a potentially dangerous situation. Consumer Reports said Autopilot took 24 seconds to send a warning, while Super Cruise took just four seconds.
Consumer Reports also said that Autopilot’s “impressive” ability to keep a vehicle in its lane canmake it so drivers become over- reliant on the system and think of their cars as fully self-driving vehicles.
“Autopilot limits how fast the car can go, but still allows the systemto be used,” Consumer Reports said. “It even allows use on small, curvy roads with poor lane markings—and operates erratically in these situations rather than locking the system out.”
Consumer Repor ts stressed that none of the systems tested should be thought of as providing full self-driving functions for a vehicle.