General Motors has announced that it will expand the capabilities of its Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving assist. These include a Trailering feature, enabling owners to tow something and drive hands-free on select stretches of highway. Automatic lane changing allows the vehicle to switch lanes on its own once the driver initiates the maneuver. The built-in navigation system will also now show Super Cruise compatible roads on vehicles with embedded Google Maps, and it will also show routes that are available for hands-free driving on your selection screen.
For the 2022 model year, GM will offer the enhanced version of Super Cruise in several vehicles including the Cadillac Escalade, CT4 and CT5, Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Hummer EV pickup, and GMC Sierra. “We’re excited to expand Super Cruise to even more new models with additional capabilities to provide our customers with even more opportunities to go hands-free,” said Mario Maiorana, chief engineer of Super Cruise at General Motors. “The additional Super Cruise-enabled vehicles and new features are an important step toward our goal of enabling hands-free driving 95% of the time and getting people more comfortable with letting go of the wheel.” GM’s latest enhancements to Super Cruise were enabled by its vehicle intelligence platform providing more bandwidth and data processing power. Over-the-air updates were made possible by the new digital platform, allowing vehicles already on the road to benefit from the new upgrades.
By 2023, GM expects 22 of its vehicles to offer Super Cruise including the Cadillac Lyriq and the GMC Hummer EV SUV. The 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV and 2022 Cadillac XT6 are also available with Super Cruise but they get a slightly different version. The big difference with the iteration found in the Bolt EUV and XT6 is that it doesn’t come with automatic lane changing capability because they don’t have as many sensors equipped in them as some of the upcoming Ultium-powered battery-electric models and Cadillac’s latest vehicles.
Super Cruise combines the functions of adaptive cruise control, lane centering, steering assist, and traffic jam assist to enable semi-autonomous driving on the highway. The system uses audible and visual cues to let you know when you’re able to drive hands free. A green light on the steering wheel lets you know when it’s safe to take your hands off the wheel. It will turn red and beep at you if the car needs you to take over driving duties. The car will usually require you to take over when entering junctions, onramps, or exiting the freeway and onto the city. Super Cruise requires you to keep your eyes on the road meaning you can’t be doing other things because you still need to make sure you can take over in case of an emergency. Should you keep taking your eyes off the road and don’t pay attention, Super Cruise will be disabled for some time.
The latest additions to Super Cruise are further proof of General Motors’ commitment to electrification and autonomy. We’re expecting Super Cruise to trickle down across all of the General Motors brands. Cadillac’s Celestiq sedan, the Chevrolet Silverado EV, and the GMC Sierra EV should be the next vehicles in line to get Super Cruise.
