BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

GM's Super Cruise Is A Marriage Of Cutting-Edge Hardware And Software

Following
This article is more than 6 years old.

Cadillac

Trust is something that usually takes time to build. Ask General Motors about that time. Delaying the debut of Super Cruise on the Cadillac CT6 signaled a monumental shift in thinking for the company. Safety was the new focus instead of racing to market. It was decided that Super Cruise needed more features to prevent drivers from doing things that they shouldn't be doing, like watching movies while behind the wheel. I was invited to put the Super Cruise system to the test with a drive from Cleveland to Nashville via Chicago.

It took me about five minutes behind the wheel to feel comfortable and trust Super Cruise where I could actually do something else with my hands. I started with eating a bag of pretzels. This is something that would normally require you to steer with your knees while one hand holds the bag and the other grabs the pretzels. With Super Cruise, I was able to set it to 77 mph and enjoy my snack without worrying if I was going to veer into another lane.

Super Cruise is the first truly hands-free driving technology. At first, that might sound absolutely terrifying. A two-ton car that can steer itself. My mother gave me an earful before I left reminding me that I had a wife and kids and to not trust self-driving cars. But when you look at what engineering hurdles were crossed in order to make Super Cruise the safest driver assistant system on the planet, it's hard to not trust the technology. The CT6 isn't a self-driving car. It still requires your attention. It's basically adaptive cruise control that can steer itself on highways for extended periods of time. Still a terrifying thought for my mother.

Cadillac

General Motors contracted a company called Ushr to take high-resolution LiDAR maps of closed access roadways, such as highways, that allows the CT6 to know where it is on the road, within four inches. These maps are automatically downloaded from the cloud and are updated with a regular cadence. This helps keep the car in the lane, understand the contours of the road, and adjust the speed based on curves, turns, or other features of the road. No other automaker is doing something like this.

A combination of short and long-range radars from Delphi and Continental help see what is going on in front of the car as well as a forward facing camera. Cameras mounted in the side mirrors check the lane position (they work, I tried covering them up while driving and the system shut down) and the most important sensor is a camera mounted right behind the steering wheel. A company called FOVIO, part of seeingmachines, has a camera that watches the driver and tracks their eyes and head to make sure they are looking at the road. This camera requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road and to glance ahead at least every five seconds or it starts to shut down the system. This is to prevent people from making videos like this one and also to  This camera can see through sunglasses and works in the dark by using infrared lights that are mounted on the steering wheel.

Cadillac

General Motors also worked with Takata to develop a steering wheel that breaks new ground when it comes to innovation. The steering wheel is equipped with touch sensors to prevent users from trying to bypass the safety equipment, which people are showing on other cars on YouTube to indicate they are paying attention. The steering wheel also features LED lights to indicate to the driver what the Super Cruise system is doing or if it is ready to engage. They even went as far as making it colorblind friendly, which I found to be very useful.

Cadillac

What I found to be the best thing about Super Cruise was how robust it felt. It didn't feel like something that was rushed to market. I didn't experience any bugs or annoying errors while driving. If you're looking for a comfortable highway cruiser, the CT6 now beats everything else on the road. You can eat, glance at a text message, shave, enjoy a sip of coffee, or other things you probably already do today while on a road trip but with Super Cruise taking the wheel over, it is much safer. After hundreds of miles using Super Cruise, customers can look at it as the next baby step towards self-driving cars and continue to grow their trust that the auto industry is capable of designing hardware and software that can work in tandem with each other to make driving a more relaxing and safer experience. The next task will be convincing people like my mother that Super Cruise is safe.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedInCheck out my website