GM is currently working on its version of a hands-off advanced driving system for city streets. According to Techcrunch's latest report, Doug Parks, the automaker's vice president of global product development, announced on Tuesday, May 19, that a "big team" will be working on GM's "Super Cruise," the company's version of hands-free advanced driving assistance system that will be used on city streets and expand its capability beyond highways.
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Park told in a webcast interview at Citi's 2020 Car of the Future Symposium that the car company is still working on its existing Super Cruise product for further improvement.
"As we continue to ratchet up Super Cruise, we continue to add capability and not just highway roads," said Park. He also reiterated that another hands-free city driving product known internally as "Ulta Cruise" is being worked on by a separate team. "We're trying to take that same capability off the highway."
"Ultra cruise would be all of the Super Cruise plus the neighborhoods, city streets, and subdivisions. So Ultra Cruise's domain would be essentially all driving, all the time," he further explained.
However, he clarified that the company could not assure that Ultra Cruise will be fully autonomous a hundred percent of the time, but that would likely be the result. There was no timeline provided by GM when the product will be available.
GM developed its own hands-off advanced driving system: "Super Cruise" will expand to highways and streets
According to Techcrunch, GM continues to expand its hands-free driver assistance system technology across its vehicle portfolio as clarified by the company's spokesperson. The team has also focused on other scenarios where the driving system's capabilities can be expanded.
The new "Ultra Cruise" would compete with Tesla's Autopilot Driving system which is currently considered by the market as the most capable hands-free driving system.
GM's Super Cruise will monitor the driver behind the wheel to ensure they're paying attention to the road, using a combination of high-precision GPS, lidar map data, radar sensors, cameras, and also driver attention system. Super Cruise will not require its users to have their hands on the wheel as long as their eyes remain directed straight ahead--unlike Tesla's Autopilot driver assistance system where the driver needs to hold the wheels.
However, Super Cruise has a slower approach compared to Tesla's method of launching out software updates that provide early access to some users to test innovative features.
Better speed control and steering can be experienced by the drivers using the enhanced version of GM's Super Cruise. GM expects the new hands-free driving system will be available in the second half of 2020.
The company also clarified that it will be introduced to 2021 Cadillac CT4 and CT5 sedans, including the new 2021 Cadillac Escalade.
