Cadillac reinvents driving with system that steers car for long distances on highways
Cadillac’s Super Cruise hands-free driving system will add several welcome functions this year, increasing conditions in which drivers can let their Caddies essentially drive themselves, like when passing and switching highways at interchanges.
I’ve logged more than 3,000 miles with Super Cruise. It’s amazing, steering the car, braking and accelerating while I looked on. Additions coming on several 2021 model Cadillacs promise significant improvements, Super Cruise chief engineer Mario Maiorana told me.
Unlike driver-assistance features like Tesla’s high-profile Auto Pilot, Super Cruise allows the driver to keep their hands off the steering wheel for hours at a time, when conditions allow.
It works on more than 200,000 miles of limited access roads in the U.S. and Canada, including the full interstate highway network and many divided roads with occasional cross roads.
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Cadillac says owners use Super Cruise for about 70,000 miles a week, for a total of about 5.5 million miles since it debuted in 2017. The feature was only available on the CT6 luxury sedan until this year.
Cadillac will offer the feature on the 2021 model year Escalade SUV and CT4 and CT5 sport sedans. The system was expected to be available on all three in calendar 2020, but that could slip slightly because of plant closures and other delays associated with COVID-19.
Improvements include:
Lane change on demand
With Super Cruise engaged, the driver taps the turn signal stalk to go around a slower vehicle ahead, or get clear the lane for a faster vehicle behind.. Sensors check the embedded map, evaluate surrounding traffic and moves you over a lane, to either the left or right. The system will accelerate or slow slightly to create a safe gap to change lanes,
Highway interchanges
Super Cruise will now take you from one highway to another on interchanges, as long as the vehicle’s in the lane connecting them. It returns control to the driver if the lane disappears after joining the new road.
Cadillac wont talk about future upgrades, but increased ability to merge and change lanes with no driver input would be logical upgrades in the near future.
Fewer interruptions
The digital cameras that face the driver and look ahead of the car both got upgrades that should increase Super Cruise’s availability. New hardware and software aim to reduce how often sunlight blinds the cameras, a condition that generally occurs when the sun is low before dusk and after sunrise. Mounted on the steering column, the driver-facing camera ensures the driver is alert and paying attention — not reading a book, for instance — in case they need to take control. The forward-facing camera reads lanes markings.
It should also be easier to engage the system.
GM will start rolling Super Cruise out across brands other than Cadillac soon. The system should be on 22 vehicles by 2023.
Contact Mark Phelan at 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter.
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