General Motors is about to join the autonomous revolution.
The 2018 Cadillac CT6 sedan, when it releases this fall, will be the first vehicle to feature Super Cruise, Cadillac revealed in a press release Monday. The automaker, one of GM’s signature brands, is billing Super Cruise as the automotive industry’s “first true hands-free driving technology for the highway,” — a statement that certainly could be read as a shot at Tesla’s Autopilot feature.
Furthermore, Cadillac says Super Cruise uses driver attention monitoring and precision liar map data, two systems Tesla doesn’t utilize, according to Automotive News.
“Super Cruise is a more technologically advanced hands-free driving solution, which in terms of capability, integration and validation is uniquely focused on customer convenience and safety,” Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen said in the release. “Cadillac’s philosophy is to elevate driving. Super Cruise enables safe, simple hands-free driving for the highway.”
The push of a button on the steering wheel will initiate Super Cruise, according to Cadillac. Once active, a light on the wheel indicates the status of the feature. The driver will be prompted, if necessary, to return their attention to the road if they’ve been looking away for too long.
The system uses a small camera on top of the steering column that reads the driver’s head position to monitor where they’re looking when Super Cruise is in operation. Cadillac notes that existing driver assist systems only rely on wheel input and warning messages to bring drivers’ attentions back to the road.
Unlike Tesla’s Autopilot, which can be activated on any road, Cadillac says Super Cruise only can be engaged on divided highways with onramps.
Coincidentally or not, Cadillac revealed the new technology on the same day Tesla surpassed GM in market capitalization, making Tesla the U.S.’s most valuable automaker, according to Business Insider.
Thumbnail photo via Cadillac
