GM To Introduce Hands-Free Driving In Cadillac Model

cold fjord notes that drivers will be able to switch a new Cadillac model to partial auto-pilot. General Motors Co. (GM), the largest U.S. automaker, will introduce a Cadillac model in two years that can travel on the highway without the driver holding the steering wheel or putting a foot on a pedal. The 2017 Cadillac model will feature "Super Cruise" technology that takes control of steering, acceleration and braking at highway speeds of 70 miles per hour or in stop-and-go congested traffic, Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said yesterday in a speech at the Intelligent Transport System World Congress in Detroit. GM declined to release the name of the model that will carry the feature. Barra also said GM in two years will become the first automaker to equip a model with so-called vehicle-to-vehicle technology that enables the car to communicate with other autos with similar abilities to warn of traffic hazards and improve road safety. GM will make the V2V feature standard on its 2017 Cadillac CTS sedan, debuting in the second half of 2016, she said. The Super Cruise feature will be on a different Cadillac model and goes beyond similar technology available on some Mercedes-Benz models that operates only at low speeds.

Comments

wow

[Cardoor]

given that GM has had to recall more cars in 2014 than they sold globally in 2011,2012, and 2013 combined, it strikes me as almost surreal that they are floating the idea that consumers should 'trust them' in their ability to produce this technology safely and bug-free.

then again, people do have pretty short memories, and are easily distracted by shiny things . either way though, i think this can safely be called either chutzpah, or some kind of weird statement regarding what they think consumer's attention span is.

Re:wow

[Transcendent]

...it strikes me as almost surreal that they are floating the idea that consumers should 'trust them' in their ability to produce this technology safely and bug-free.

Please feel free to name any tech company that can produce bug-free systems. I'll wait.

I would be more worried about getting into a car made by a tech company that is used to a constant cycle of development and patching. A car running software by Adobe or Oracle? You couldn't pay me to drive in that. Even the majority of complaints against recent Ford cars is due to bad software for their Sync system... written by Microsoft. What if every bug in software written by Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc. got the media attention of an auto industry recall? We'd be inundated...

You have to remember that 1 recall = 1 bug in the auto industry. What other major industry (besides aerospace) has such a low instance of issues in their products that operate in horrendously harsh environments and temperature ranges are designed to last 10+ years?

Re:Sleepy time?

[kilodelta]

I just love how we're taking the incremental steps to fully autonomous vehicles.

And I'd LOVE to see the specs for the car to car communication. Because I'll lay even money that security was one of the last thoughts of the engineers and that the C2C interface will have direct access to the cars CAN bus or whatever it is GM uses these days. Fun times!