American legacy automaker General Motors has just clarified its plans to merge its two Level 2 automated driving systems, Ultra Cruise and Super Cruise, to improve the ADAS features of its vehicles.
The announcement came from GM spokesperson Aimee Ridella, who denies recent reports suggesting that the company will cancel Ultra Cruise to focus on Super Cruise’s development.
“GM is not scaling back its advanced driver assistance (ADAS) programs. We have reallocated our ADAS-focused resources to bring even more capability to Super Cruise under one recognizable consumer brand.”
GM spokesperson Aimee Ridella
Prior reports
CNBC previously reported two unnamed sources’ claims that GM would abandon the Ultra Cruise program to shift its focus and resources to the improvement of the more popular Super Cruise system.
It is apparently part of the American automaker’s plans to narrow down its Level 2 automated driving systems to just one and ensure its safety.
“GM has decided to instead focus on the current Super Cruise system and expanding its capabilities rather than having two different, similarly named systems.”
CNBC, citing one of the unnamed sources
GM’s global technology communications vice president omitted to confirm the news. However, he emphasized the company’s plans to upgrade the Super Cruise’s capabilities.
“GM continues to expand access to and increase the capability of Super Cruise, our advanced driver assistance technology. Our focus remains on safely deploying this technology across GM brands and more vehicle categories while expanding to even more roads.”
Darryll Harrison Jr., GM vice president of global technology communications
What’s Super Cruise?
GM initially launched the Super Cruise in 2017, along with the introduction of the Cadillac CT6 gasoline-powered luxury sedan.
It remained a “Level 2” type of semi-autonomous technology up until now. For context, it is a driver assistance system that gives the vehicle control to both the steering and accelerating/decelerating. However, it requires a human driver to stay vigilant and take over at any time.
The company continuously upgraded the Super Cruise over the years and expanded to more GM cars, regardless of the powertrain.
How about the Ultra Cruise?
In 2021, GM introduced a new system called “Ultra Cruise.” It is apparently an improved version of the Super Cruise. However, the difference between the two is apparently just the new integration of Lidar.
Nonetheless, the Ultra Cruise remained a Level 2+ system. GM marketed this new system as something that could gradually “enable hands-free driving in 95% of all driving scenarios,” as reported by The Verge.
GM originally planned to launch this new system by incorporating it into the $300,000 Cadillac Celestiq in 2023, but it did not materialize.
Scaling back on ADAS programs can potentially impede GM’s efforts to reach full autonomy amid the auto industry’s race toward the same ambitious goal. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the American company strategized to merge the two ADAS programs’ features and capabilities rather than wasting one of them.
