Cadillac Super Cruise superb step toward autonomy
General Motors joins the saleable autonomous-vehicle market with the launch this fall of the ’18 Cadillac CT6 with available Super Cruise, a hands-free driving technology that is superbly integrated and easy-to-use if not a skosh late to U.S. dealers.
Operating the technology requires regular driver supervision and it works only on limited-access highways without cross-traffic intersections or stoplights. But once activated, the driver can pull his hands from the wheel, peek out the window here and there and leisurely let adaptive cruise control manage the following distance of cars ahead.
“This is hands-free, (but) the driver is responsible for supervising,” says Daryl Wilson, lead development engineer-Super Cruise at GM.
Super Cruise could be considered Level 3 autonomous-driving technology, or conditional automation where the car is in control and constantly monitors the roadway but will re-engage the human driver when appropriate. However, GM refuses to assign it SAE taxonomy as other automakers have with their systems. This article first appeared in WardsAuto.
