All Cadillacs will self-drive in 2020
Super Cruise system currently only on the CT6.
General Motors will offer hands-free highway driving capability on all of its Cadillac models beginning in
2020, it was announced Wednesday.
The system, dubbed Super Cruise, is currently available only on the CT6 luxury sedan.
It steers, brakes and accelerates a vehicle on the highway automatically, but an eye tracker ensures the driver is watching the road and is able to take over the steering wheel if necessary.
Other partially self-driving systems on the road include Tesla’s Autopilot, which can steer, brake and accelerate on its own but requires the user to regularly touch the steering wheel.
Autopilot does not track eye movements, but it has some functions Super Cruise does not include, such as the ability to change lanes when the driver flips on the turn signal.
Cadillac is only the start for Super Cruise. GM said it would start making the feature available on other vehicles after 2020.
Super Cruise uses technologies such as light detection and ranging, or Lidar for short; high-precision GPS; the driver attention system and a network of camera and radar sensors, GM said. Super Cruise also requires that motorists maintain an active subscription to its OnStar in-car vehicle system with its ability to automatically summon emergency services in event of a crash.
Drivers can drive hands-free on about 130,000 miles of freeways in the U.S. and Canada.
The automaker is also pursuing fully self-driving vehicles that are likely to roll out first in a ride-hailing capacity. GM is vying to be a leader in new self-driving technology, the hottest competition in the auto industry at the moment.
Cadillac will also offer “vehicle-to-everything”
(V2X) communications in “a high-volume crossover by
2023,” GM said. That technology enables cars to send wireless signals to other vehicles to avoid accidents.
Using V2X, compatible vehicles can be notified of hazardous road conditions, traffic light statuses, changing work zones and more. It has a range of nearly
1,000 feet, so drivers can be alerted to danger in time to avoid a crash.
That system will also eventually be available across Cadillac’s vehicle portfolio, said Mark Reuss, GM’s executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain.
Cadillac introduced vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications on the CTS sedan in 2017. It uses “dedicated short-range” communications technology. V2V can be extended to the roadway infrastructure and to anyone using the road.
“The expansion of Super Cruise and V2X communications technology demonstrates Cadillac’s commitment to innovation and to making customers’ lives better,” Reuss said in a statement. “GM is just as committed to ushering in a new era of personal transportation.”
Reuss said these such technologies will enable that era.
Reuss was set to announce the news at the Intelligent Transportation Society’s annual conference in Detroit. It comes about a week after GM announced a partnership with SoftBank Vision Fund to invest $3.35 billion in GM Cruise, the automaker’s autonomous car division, to speed the development of self-driving car technology.