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GM’s Super Cruise Hands-Free Driving Feature Blew My Mind Over 2,000 Miles

On a road trip deep into Canada with the loaded GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate, one big thing stands out.

By Steve Mazzucchi

As convenient as flying can be, some places are remote enough that driving makes more sense. Such is the case with Murdochville, Canada, a tiny town (2016 pop: 651) nearly 400 miles northeast of Quebec City.

That’s the decision three buddies and I made when we chose to check this locale — which serves as a base camp for some pretty killer backcountry skiing and splitboarding in the Chic-Choc Mountains — off the bucket list. As our destination was also 869 miles from my New York City apartment, this trip proved the perfect occasion to put GMC’s most tricked-out SUV, the Yukon Denali Ultimate , through its paces.

Now, a lot of things stand out about this nearly $100,000 rig , including the boss 18-speaker Bose sound system, massage-ready front seats, luxurious wood-and-leather-lined interior, running boards that automatically deploy whenever you open the doors and tons of space for four dudes and all their ski and snowboard gear . But as we took the YDU on a nearly 2,000-mile adventure, one futuristic feature truly dominated our chatter: GM’s hands-free driving tech, known as Super Cruise. Here’s why — complemented by some Canadian atmosphere showing off the vehicle, of course.

Super Cruise Is Super Smart

I remember trying out Tesla’s self-driving feature several years ago on a test drive. While I was impressed, it still felt like a novelty. I had similar feelings about Super Cruise until I began playing with it on the relatively short drive from NYC to my buddy Giuseppe’s place in New Paltz the day before we’d make the nearly 800-mile push from there to Murdochville.

I started with simple cruise control and adaptive braking, which is pretty handy for giving your foot a rest on the highway. Then, at the touch of a button, the light bar on the steering wheel illuminated blue and then green, and Super Cruise was happening .

The most striking thing is once you set a cruise control speed, you’ve empowered the vehicle to do what it can to maintain it, most notably by using its cameras and radar to detect road markings and other vehicles. Doing so, it can then not only stay in its lane but also engage the turn signal and automatically change lanes when the moment’s right. If you set the cruise control speed high enough, you’ll be zigging and zagging through traffic like a robotic Lewis Hamilton.

But You’ve Gotta Stay Engaged — and That’s a Good Thing

It’s kind of scary how quickly I came to trust Super Cruise and let it do its thing while I rocked out to the Allman Brothers at 75 miles an hour. On that very first drive, I was texting Giuseppe brief updates on my ETA, and the next morning, after rolling out at 5:30 a.m., I let it handle much of the highway action, even while I chowed down on some breakfast empanadas picked up at our first pit stop.

But that isn’t to say you can watch TikToks or snooze while driving. A small camera on the dashboard tracks your head and eye movement, and if it senses a lack of attention, Super Cruise deactivates: the seat vibrates, the green light bar blinks and then turns red and the display tells you to grab the wheel and take control. It’s not quite as dramatic as, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger overpowering a Johnny Cab , but if you don’t respond, the vehicle will literally slow to a stop.

Giuseppe handled half of the miles and learned firsthand that Super Cruise has little tolerance for smartphone-addled drivers. He told me that while I was napping in the back, he texted one too many times — the system completely shut down and made him wait several minutes to engage Super Cruise again.

Super Cruise’s “Butt Haptics” Are Quirky

Along with the light bar and the display behind the steering wheel that indicates such usual metrics as your speed, cruise control speed and lane changes, the most noticeable sign of Super Cruise is what I call “butt haptics.”

Basically, anytime the vehicle goes to make a lane change — or it senses you doing something inadvisable, like veering out of your lane or backing into a snowbank — the seat vibrates. It has a bit of a language, too: a buzz on the left cheek when it’s switching to the left lane and one on the right cheek when it’s headed that way.

It takes some getting used to and sometimes feels superfluous, but I did find some of the pulsing kind of helpful and safety-enhancing in its own weird way. Speaking of weird, here’s a funky thing you can do when Super Cruise is engaged — flick the turn signal stalk on the highway, and if the road is clear, the vehicle will change lanes without you doing another thing.

Super Cruise Doesn’t Always Work — and Some of Its Moves Are Disconcerting

Not long after we crossed the border into Canada, I got a notification I hadn’t before: “Super Cruise Unavailable.” We all began to theorize that maybe the whole damn thing doesn’t work in Canada for Byzantine legal reasons.

We were totally wrong. Later on, it worked just fine. Basically, as long as there are clearly visible lane markings, the system seems able to function. But if the road is covered in snow — or it’s a dirt road like the one we encountered on one of our splitboarding jaunts — you’re SOL.

That’s understandable, but I do want to note a couple of moments where the AI gave me pause. First, if you set the cruise control too fast, it can occasionally accelerate into turns in a way no human would. Second, when it comes to passing large vehicles like semi trucks, a human driver typically will give them a wide berth. Super Cruise passes them like it would any other vehicle, and unless you like the feeling of “buzzing the tower,” so to speak, it can feel a bit freaky.

Super Cruise Is a Major Conversation Piece… for Now

Even with these quirks, however, the title of this story is accurate: Super Cruise really did blow my mind, and of all the features people commented on during this very long road trip — we drove all the way back in one day — it was easily top of the list. When our buddies thanked Giuseppe and I for driving, we felt kind of sheepish, like an airline captain who uses autopilot for everything but takeoffs and landings.

One thing that really stands out is something the YDU didn’t do, which is leave me feeling totally exhausted upon arrival at our lodgings after some 14 hours on the road. That says a ton for both the comfy interior and certainly for Super Cruise. It’s pretty awesome to endure such a punishing drive and wake up the next morning refreshed and ready to tackle a mountain.

GM has done impressive work creating a system that safely and efficiently makes driving less taxing, essentially letting the driver monitor highway maneuvers and take over when necessary. That alone makes Super Cruise something to talk about — while wondering how long it will be till such functionality is so standard it is taken for granted. As someone who still appreciates manual shifting , I hope that day doesn’t come too soon.

Related Topics

GM Enhanced Super Cruise Review: Hands-free driving adds auto lane-change

• Hands-free attention monitor is unexpectedly liberating
• Automatic lane change works smoothly & naturally
• GM's human-like driving is relaxingly proficient
• Availability is finally expanding across GM's portfolio
• Super Cruise looks set to remain an expensive option
• Only works on mapped highways
• Requires an OnStar subscription after the bundled period
• This isn't autonomous driving - you're still responsible

You can't buy an autonomous car yet, but you can get some seriously impressive help behind the wheels on the highways. GM's Enhanced Super Cruise adds automatic lane changing to its hands-off driver assistance, a long-anticipated feature that arrives just as the automaker prepares to nudge the technology into the spotlight. As I discovered in the 2021 Escalade, however, it has a few other new tricks up its sleeve too.

Super Cruise launched back in 2017 on the Cadillac CT6, but it's only this year that it's spreading to more models. The 2021 Escalade is first, with Cadillac's CT4 and CT5 sedans to follow plus the upcoming Lyriq EV, but it's also spreading to other models under the General Motors umbrella, beginning with the upcoming Chevrolet Bolt EUV electric crossover . For that reason, I'll be referring to it as GM Super Cruise now, rather than Cadillac Super Cruise.

At launch, Super Cruise could basically do two things : maintain your pace with traffic, and hold you centered in the lane. To get that lane-centering right, GM looked to LIDAR. Not on the Super Cruise car itself, but on a fleet of mapping vehicles that built up high-definition cartography of divided highways across the US and Canada. By combining those with a high-resolution GPS sensor, plus the other sensors on the vehicle, it gives Super Cruise much greater accuracy as to where it is on the road.

The other big difference is where your hands have to be. Most combinations of adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping rely on contact with the steering wheel to reassure the system you're poised and ready to take over should it need to deactivate. Super Cruise, however, has a camera mounted on the steering column, which tracks where you're looking to make sure you're paying sufficient attention to the road ahead.

If you're not – which typically means looking away for around 4-6 seconds, though that's situation-dependent – a light bar built into upper half of the steering wheel flashes to bring your attention back. If that doesn't grab you, Super Cruise escalates through more aggressive flashes, seat-buzzes, and sounds, then will eventually deactivate and the system can even bring the car to a safe halt, summoning help via OnStar.

What Enhanced Super Cruise brings, though, is a feature that was long conspicuous by its absence. Several cars have offered automatic lane changing for some time now, typically trigged by turning on the indicator and then allowing the vehicle to move you into the adjacent lane by itself. Super Cruise, however, has been limited to just the lane you're in.

In fact, if you wanted to switch lanes, you'd need to overrule Super Cruise first. Pulling on the wheel, or indicating, would temporarily deactivate the system; you'd manually change lane, wait for Super Cruise to reacquire its position, and then the light bar would turn green to show it was back in control of the steering.

With Enhanced Super Cruise, you just have to hit the indicator. A graphic comes up on the Escalade's all-digital instrumentation, showing it's looking for a gap in traffic, and then eventually the SUV moves over. Once it's centered in the new lane you get a message confirming the maneuver was completed, and you can turn the indicator off.

Honestly, it sounds simple, and I confess I did wonder why it took GM quite so long to add it in. The reality is, while we humans may make lane-changing fairly simple, it's actually a considerable challenge to do safely and consistently in a semi-automated way, particularly if you also want to avoid riling up other motorists.

First off, it demands new hardware. GM updated all the sensors it uses, in particular extending the range of the rear radars. There's more compute power onboard, too, and Enhanced Super Cruise taps the new electrical architecture used in the automaker's latest models. It's for that reason that existing Super Cruise users can't upgrade their CT6 to support automatic lane changing, Cadillac says: the hardware just isn't there to power it.

With that bevy of sensors, Enhanced Super Cruise is looking for a few things. For a start, it needs to find a suitably-sized gap in adjacent traffic: at almost 18 feet in length, an Escalade is not a small SUV. It's also looking further back in that neighboring lane, to make sure a fast-approaching vehicle isn't rapidly closing on you.

At the same time, GM has tried to dial in a more human style of driving for Enhanced Super Cruise. If the sensors spot a potential gap, for example, the car can speed up or slow down slightly to take advantage of it. You're not going to go zooming ahead, mind: I found it would do 2-3 mph above the speed I'd set at most, and it automatically returns to the pace you selected once the move is complete.

If there's a fast-moving vehicle coming up behind you in the target lane, meanwhile, Enhanced Super Cruise will probably pause and let it go past first. That way you're not cutting people off. The updated sensors are generally better at dealing with people cutting in on the lanes around you, too. Richer data in the map also means the automatic lane changing system knows if you're trying to switch into a non-Super Cruise enabled lane, or one which is about to end; if that's the case, it won't move over.

As always with any advanced driver-assistance system, there's a familiarity period when you first get behind the wheel. It's a little disconcerting to switch on Super Cruise and find the wheel moving of its own accord: I found my hands were hovering nearby for a while, just as my foot tends to hover over the gas and brake pedals when I first turn on adaptive cruise in a new vehicle.

Other updates have attempted to make that process a little more streamlined, at least from a technical standpoint. GM changed how Super Cruise enables, for one thing: you still turn on adaptive cruise first, then hit the Super Cruise button on the wheel, but you don't need to be dead-center in the lane for that now. Instead you can activate it and then position, at which point the system takes over the steering.

Meanwhile, Super Cruise in general is a fairly conservative driver, which helps build human confidence. If you're looking for a car to whip through rush hour traffic, making the most of every possible gap (even if that generates some frustration among your fellow commuters) then Enhanced Super Cruise isn't going to help. On busier lengths of highway, spaces in traffic that I might have pushed into proved unpalatable for GM's system. After a period of searching for a gap and not finding one that suits, the Escalade gives up the hunt and shows a "lane change canceled" message instead.

There's a lot going on in the background. While automatic lane changes are the headline feature, this Enhanced version also brings improved software for steering and speed control to make Super Cruise feel smoother and more natural. It'll slow down in a more human-like way if there's a sharper turn coming up, as well as shift over slightly in the lane if you're passing a big semi or similar. They're tiny tweaks – you only really notice that dynamic lane offset if you're looking out for it, with GM saying it's only about a foot of lateral bias at most – but it leaves Super Cruise feeling generally less rigid.

Cadillac won't have the highway hands-free driver assistance space to itself for long. Ford's Active Drive Assist is set to launch later this year, on the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover and the latest F-150 truck. It, too, will allow you to take your hands off the wheel just as long as the cameras can be sure you're watching the road, though it'll also be limited to areas where Ford has previously mapped.

The reality is that true autonomous driving – Level 4 or Level 5, where you can get into the vehicle, tell it where you want to go, and then rely on it to take you from A to B without further human intervention – is still some way out. It's a challenge that requires not only technical progress but regulatory and societal change too. Even if we see trials of ride-hailing services with driverless vehicles spread, they're likely to be small scale for some time to come.

For now, then, systems like Enhanced Super Cruise are about the closest you can get. To be clear, this is still a Level 2 offering: driver-assistance, not driver-replacement. You're still in charge of the vehicle, and responsible if something goes wrong.

GM's attitude there is a lot more conservative than some other automakers. Tesla Autopilot, for example, has evolved in leaps and bounds while the Super Cruise team worked away in the background. Sometimes it feels like Tesla owners wake up every other week to a new tweak or feature to their driver-assistance tech: auto lane changing is a case in point, and while it may not be perfect on Tesla vehicles, it's been out in the wild there for years now.

What Tesla has refused to do, though, is hands-off driver attention monitoring. Honestly, that's the game-changer for me. I've driven most of the ADAS systems on the market right now, and personally there's nothing quite as liberating and relaxing on a long highway drive than not having to reassure the car that yes, you're in contact with the wheel, and yes, you're ready to take over should that be necessary.

It's not to say Enhanced Super Cruise is perfect. Mainstream sensor tech isn't infallible: snow or other inclement conditions can obscure cameras or other sensors, and lead to trouble identifying the lane lines. The system might be confident enough to hold you in the lane, but not have enough clarity to change lanes for you.

That reliance on high-definition mapping data, meanwhile, means it'll only work where GM has maps for it. Right now that means about 200,000 miles of highway and trunk road in North America, though the number is increasing and new updates get pushed out via OnStar. Super Cruise isn't used as a filter as you're planning a journey in the Escalade's navigation: you can't have it generate a route that specifically maximizes hands-free time. There's no cross-fleet aggregation of navigation data either, and if GM gets word of construction projects that could significantly impact the road it'll switch off Super Cruise functionality in that section until it can go back and re-map them.

In the process it also means you'll need an active OnStar connection, to receive the quarterly map updates. You get three years of Super Cruise data and service when you buy the vehicle, but after that you'll need to cough up a monthly or annual fee in order to keep both going.

That leads us neatly to the last big issue for GM's system: price. The 2021 Escalade is not a cheap SUV, and you need at least the Premium Luxury trim to add Super Cruise. However since you also need the Driver Assist Tech Package, Magnetic Ride Control, Adaptive Cruise Control, and several other options, you're looking at $8,850 more, all-in.

It gets a little cheaper on more expensive trims, since they have more of those mandatory extras as standard. At that point, Super Cruise is around $2,500. Still, you're looking at around $93,000 to get an Escalade with the system onboard. I wouldn't buy an Escalade just for Super Cruise, but then again I wouldn't buy an Escalade without Super Cruise, either.

Just how much it might cost on other vehicles remains to be seen. GM, though, will need to be realistic. Ford has already confirmed pricing for Active Drive Assist : on the F-150, for example, you're looking at around $2,195 for most trims when it's finally available.

I don't begrudge either automaker for positioning their technologies as premium upgrades. It does, though, feel like a shame that systems such as Super Cruise have been the preserve of a very small subset of drivers. People who, GM says its feedback research shows, are ardent users of – and very happy with – Super Cruise, but who are still a definite minority.

That research also unearths another tidbit: apparently 85-percent of current Cadillac CT6 owners said they'd prefer, or even only consider, another vehicle equipped with the hands-free driver assistance system. Until now, what with the CT6 discontinued, that's left them with basically nowhere to go. As it gives Super Cruise the roll-out it deserves, at least, GM is finally addressing what could well have been the technology's biggest problem.

GM expands Super Cruise tech for use on 400K miles of roadways

Customers driving General Motors Co.'s vehicles with the Super Cruise hands-free driving technology soon will have access to double the amount of miles where they can use the technology, GM said Wednesday.

The Detroit automaker is expanding Super Cruise availability from 200,000 miles to 400,000 miles of roadways in the U.S. and Canada, included undivided highways. The technology was previously only offered on mapped divided highways or interstates. A few known routes with large sections coming online in the expansion include: U.S. Route 66, California State Route 1,  U.S. Route 1 and the Trans-Canada Highway.

Super Cruise is available as an option on new vehicles built on the VIP electrical architecture.

The expansion will be available later this year on previously sold model year 2021 and 2022 vehicles with that architecture. It will be offered at no additional charge over-the-air on Super Cruise-equipped models, which have included the Cadillac CT4, CT5, Escalade, GMC Hummer EV and electric Cadillac Lyriq. It will also be available on some new 2023 model year vehicles.

GM still intends to have Super Cruise on 22 models sold in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2023, but the chip shortage has affected its ability to offer Super Cruise on some of the equipped vehicles.

"We continue to work through the chip shortage," said Mario Maiorana, Super Cruise chief engineer. "We continue to balance the usage across our products ... the customer has the option of buying with or without Super Cruise but yes, there are challenges there that we continue to manage."

Pricing for the Super Cruise option varies by brand. For Cadillacs, the technology is priced at $2,500. It's available on: 2021-2023 Escalade, 2023 Escalade-V, select 2021-2023 CT4, CT4-V, CT5 and CT5-V, 2022-2023 XT6 and the 2023 Lyriq. 

Super Cruise is also offered on the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 High Country, 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV Premier and Redline trim levels only for $2,200. 

The self-driving technology is also offered on the the 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali and comes standard on the 2022 Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate. The cost is included in content packages, GM said.

Super Cruise uses precision LiDAR map data, real-time cameras, radars and GPS for the hands-free driving experience. The system will accelerate and brake, it steers to maintain lane position, and on certain models, can perform lane changes. 

GM's expansion of the automated driving system comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has expanded a probe into Tesla Inc. for its Autopilot driver-assistance technology after several crashes. 

"We're always working with NHTSA. We talked to them about these types of expansions," Maiorana said. "We talked to them about our strategy with respect to driver attention, so we're having regular conversation with them. We'd like to have an open relationship there and discuss these types of significant changes."

GM's Super Cruise monitors drivers closely to make sure they can grab the wheel when necessary. The driver attention system is "very key" to safety, Maiorana said.

"We believe that is the linchpin of safety for our system in that we are ensuring the driver is always attentive and aware because there's situations that can be thrown at you at any point in time," he said. 

Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Guidehouse Insights, sees Super Cruise as "the best system on the market today out of everything I've tried so far. It does a better job of keeping the vehicle steady in the center of the lane."

And the Super Cruise driver monitoring system is "more capable and robust." But he's not totally convinced that hands-free driving systems are a good idea because drivers can still get "complacent and not pay enough attention," he said.

"GM does a pretty good job of that with the driver monitoring system. But when you have to continue watching the road ... I'm not convinced that it's actually more relaxing."

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Twitter:@bykaleahall

GM's Super Cruise vs. Ford's Bluecruise: Compare hands-free driving systems

Cadillac Super Cruise

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A new battlefield has emerged in the century-long tussle between General Motors and Ford: hands-free driving technology.

In recent testing of GM's Super Cruise in the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado and Ford's Bluecruise in the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning , one thing became clear. GM is far ahead of Ford when it comes to limited hands-free driving, which is an evolution of adaptive cruise control.  

Cruise, or speed, control dates as far back as the rivalry between America's top two automakers. Yet, the first car to feature a modern version of cruise control was the 1958 Chrysler Imperial that was advertised as "Auto-pilot." That's the same and now controversial name Tesla uses for its semi-autonomous drive system. History may be recursive, but this technology has come a long way.

Ford BlueCruise

The promise of a car driving itself in traffic while the operator tends to other business has never been closer to reality. And while the technology exists, the current infrastructure and legal framework keeps it at bay. To be clear, there is no such thing as a fully self-driving car on sale today. That threshold of being able to enter a destination and go from point A to point B with no interaction between car and passenger has been identified as a Level 5 advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) by the Society for Automotive Engineering. Super Cruise, Autopilot, and Bluecruise, among others, are considered Level 2, nudging towards Level 3. 

Level 2 has been identified as using active lane control and adaptive cruise control at the same time, with the driver maintaining control of these functions even if their hands are off the wheel. Most new cars offer this level of technology, with adaptive cruise control maintaining the gap between a lead car and providing a nice respite on highways; active lane control keeps the car centered in its lane, but can be obtrusive to some drivers, based on the latest customer satisfaction survey from J.D. Power. 

Level 3 essentially means that once the driver initiates the system and sits behind the wheel, the system takes over for the rest of the way without any intervention from the driver, until the system demands. We're not there yet.

SAE levels of driving automation, from none to fully self-driving

Compared to Super Cruise, Ford's Bluecruise isn't quite there yet either. Here's why.

How it works

Both systems use forward-facing cameras as well as navigation info pulled from the GPS and a map database that gets updated routinely (GM says about 7-8 times a year). First launched in 2017, Super Cruise has a significant advantage in tech development. It employs lidar mapping, whereas Ford uses radar, which isn't as accurate or precise in detecting smaller objects. Originally called Active Drive Assist, Bluecruise (or Activeglide on Lincoln vehicles) didn't launch until the second half of 2021. 

The difference in mapped miles is significant as well, since, unlike Tesla, Ford and GM will not let their systems engage unless it's part of the mapped database limited to divided highways such as interstates and state highways. GM claims more than 200,000 miles of mapped highways for hands-free driving in U.S. and Canada, and Ford claims to have 130,000 miles. Both automakers say the availability expands with more mapped highways via frequent over-the-air updates.

In practice, they both are an extension of adaptive cruise control with a couple more icons, messages, and warnings mixed in. Also unlike Tesla's Autopilot, GM and Ford employ a driver-facing camera to monitor eye position and engagement with the road. The monitor for Super Cruise is a tiny camera on the top of the steering column, and the top of the steering wheel itself houses a light bar that's green when active, or pulsing red when it demands driver intervention.

A similar camera sits on the steering column of the Mach-E, but on the F-150 there are two driver-facing cameras: one is on the left A-pillar by the door, and the other is offset to the right of the steering wheel on the dash between the instrument cluster and touchscreen. 

How Super Cruise performs

Super Cruise in the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado High Country

2023 Chevrolet Suburban with Super Cruise

It's possible to travel hours in a GM vehicle with Super Cruise activated without needing to intervene, or just by tapping the wheel. To engage the system, press the cruise control button on the steering wheel. A gray steering wheel icon in the center of the instrument cluster or at the top of it will turn green when its in Super Cruise territory. The lightbar in the steering wheel activates from nothingness to green. If the vehicle is not centered in its lane to start, the lightbar appears blue until the conditions are met for it to turn green. It's unmistakable that it's on, especially when the voice commands confirm it. 

The latest update to Super Cruise includes an automatic lane change function for passing. The driver no longer has touch the indicator stalk. If you're in the right lane with Super Cruise set at 70 mph, say, and the lead car is going 65 mph, the system will check to see if the passing lane is open, and if so, it will begin a lane change. Before it does an alert flashes in the cluster and the seat side vibrates, so if you’re shifting to the right the right side of the seat will vibrate. Then it activates the blinker, checks the blind spot, and even hustles a few mph over the setting to then clear out of the passing lane and back into the right lane once well clear of the passed car. It's more considerate than most drivers, and better. And it makes Super Cruise super cool. 

Most importantly, it instills confidence and acts as a reassurance. Of all the systems I've tested, including earlier iterations of Tesla's Autopilot, Super Cruise fills dreams of safe, relaxed, open highway cruising. Iterations of Super Cruise with trailering support don't have the automatic lane change function, but do enable Super Cruise to work while towing. 

How Bluecruise performs

Ford BlueCruise in the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT.

Because its iconography is blue in the spirit of the Blue Oval, Ford's Bluecruise is not as clear. Add in a blue background on the Mach-E Mustang and F-150 Lightning, and it's not as obvious as the green iconography or steering wheel lightbar on Super Cruise. A blue steering-wheel icon with "Hands-Free" appears on the left side of the cluster, which is tiny on the Mach-E Mustang, and a wee little green icon also appears in either the lower or upper corner. 

Bluecruise is not as confident or sophisticated as Super Cruise. Super Cruise uses an HD GPS receiver that locates the vehicle within about six feet of its lane, so it knows where it is. Ford relies on cameras and sensors alone, so it is less aware of where it is.   It can get confused near off ramps and wary of merging lanes. In my testing on both the Mach-E Mustang and F-150 Lightning, it tended to pinball between the lane for a longer period of time than some cars equipped with only active lane control. It seems to take longer to learn the road patterns, and on curves, ramps, merges, it can be as dodgy as a teenager in a driving test. It doesn't hesitate in requesting the driver to take over, and it's not as relaxing because the steering wheel sensor relies on a tug or some degree of torque from the driver, instead of the touch capacitive steering wheel on Super Cruise. 

Bluecruise does not have an auto lane change function yet, but Ford hasn't rolled it out yet. 

What if something goes wrong?

Ford BlueCruise in the 2022 F-150 Lightning, with the driver monitor camera to the right.

Both driver-facing cameras read head and eye position to make sure eyes are on the road. If it detects otherwise, Bluecruise will flash an alert in the instrument cluster that says "Watch the Road," and there may be an audio reminder. If you don't respond to the warning, Bluecruise shuts down and automatically slows the vehicle while maintaining the center lane. To turn it off manually, just press the cruise control button. 

Ford BlueCruise warning in the F-150

If Bluecruise can't read lane markings or the lane becomes too narrow, and it detects that the driver's eyes are not on the road, it will brake and maintain the lane until the driver reengages. 

GM Super Cruise warning alert graphic

Super Cruise requests intervention when encountering unusual traffic situations, when exiting the highway and when merging into traffic, or at a stop or intersection, railroad crossing, or pedestrian crossing. If the system detects the driver's eye or head position away from the road (such as looking down at a phone), the lightbar flashes green for a few seconds and requests the driver to pay attention and tap the steering wheel. If the driver does not pay attention, audible chimes, seat vibrations, and messaging in cluster will appear, before the lightbar flashes red.  and the other alerts intensify. If there's still no reaction, Super Cruise goes into emergency mode and activates the hazards, applies the brakes to a stop, and alerts emergency services.   

Available vehicles

Super Cruise

GM will offer Super Cruise on a total of 22 vehicles by 2023. Currently, it can be had on the 2022 Cadillac Escalade, 2022 Cadillac CT4, 2022 Cadillac CT5, 2022 Cadillac XT6; 2022-2023 Chevrolet Silverado, 2023 Chevrolet Suburban, 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV; 2022-2023 GMC Sierra, 2023 GMC Hummer EV Pickup.  

2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E, 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning. 

Activeglide

2023 Lincoln Navigator. 

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400,000 Miles of Roads Now Hands-Free With Massive GM Super Cruise Update

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You’ll soon be able to drive ‘the Mother Road’ hands-free, at least if your vehicle is equipped with General Motors’ Super Cruise system.

Since Super Cruise made its debut in 2017 , GM has steadily expanded the number of miles of U.S. and Canadian roadways on which it can operate, while adding the technology to more vehicles. The latest update, announced today, will double the system’s range to more than 400,000 miles.  

And it will, for the first time, allow motorists to travel hands-free on many two-lane roads, including Route 66, California’s Pacific Coast Highway, and the Trans-Canada Highway. Until now, Super Cruise would only activate on limited-access divided roadways.

“This is a significant step in our journey” toward the development of autonomous vehicle technology, said Mario Maiorana, the chief engineer on the Super Cruise program, during a media background briefing.

Sensor Fusion

Technically, Super Cruise is a “driver assist,” rather than an autonomous vehicle, system. But it has received significant praise from automotive reviewers, and the influential Consumer Reports has rated it above Tesla’s similar Autopilot system on several occasions.

The GM technology uses a “fusion” of camera, radar, and other sensors to keep track of what’s going on around a vehicle equipped with Super Cruise. It also relies on maps produced by Lidar, a high-definition laser technology accurate down to within a couple of inches.

As GM has continued development, it has both expanded the number of miles of roadway on which Super Cruise can be used while adding more features. When the technology debuted 5 years ago, it was limited to 100,000 miles of Interstate highways. In 2019, that range was doubled, with some other divided highways added to the mix.

Adding More Features & Functionality

Since then, updates have allowed vehicles with Super Cruise to tow trailers and even execute a pass automatically. But this marks the first time the system will permit motorists to activate the system on Lidar-mapped non-divided roads.

This will allow Super Cruise to be used in significantly more rural parts of mid-America and Canada, said mapping specialist David Craig, putting it within reach of millions more motorists across North America.

As before, Super Cruise will automatically warn drivers to take control when it approaches intersections marked by stop signs or traffic lights. It will now deactivate when coming into towns, Maiorana noted. He also noted that on non-divided roads, Super Cruise’s auto-pass function will be disabled.

Keeping an Eye on the Driver

Where the system can operate, a driver can take their hands off the steering wheel — though they must still pay attention to what’s happening on the road. Otherwise, a monitoring system built into the wheel will deactivate Super Cruise.  

Whenever Super Cruise requires the driver to take control, it flashes a warning or sounds an alert. If the driver doesn’t respond, the vehicle will then slow to a stop and notify emergency responders, said Maiorana.

“Driver attention is key,” he explained. “It’s the lynchpin of safety for our system.”

Super Cruise Cost & Availability

Originally introduced on the old Cadillac CT6 sedan, GM has steadily expanded the lineup of vehicles offering the technology. It will be on 22 different models sold in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2023.

Super Cruise currently costs $2,500 to install, though other options may need to be added depending upon the vehicle trim package. The first 3 years are included in the purchase price, and it then costs another $25 a month to renew the subscription.

GM plans to introduce an even more advanced Ultra Cruise system sometime in 2023. Using onboard Lidar, the automaker says it will be able to operate hands-free on 95% of U.S. and Canadian roads.

The Super Cruise upgrade will initially become available on new 2023 models as they start rolling out. Existing GM products with Super Cruise will get over-the-air upgrades by the fourth quarter of this year.

Hands-Free Competition

GM isn’t the only automaker offering driver assistance technology. Some, like Nissan’s ProPilot, assist the driver in staying centered in their lane while maintaining speed to match the flow of traffic. Ford recently launched Blue Cruise, a system with similar features to Super Cruise, though it carries significantly fewer miles of roadway.  

Mercedes-Benz just launched its Drive Pilot in Germany, a system that allows fully hands-free operation in traffic up to 37 mph. It expects to launch the technology in the U.S. later this year.

Tesla has promised to introduce a truly autonomous version of its Autopilot system this year, but that upgrade of its “Full Self-Driving” software has repeatedly been delayed. Currently, Autopilot still requires motorists to keep their hands on the wheel.

Paul A. Eisenstein is an award-winning publisher, photographer, editor, and one of the world’s most widely published automotive journalists. His work appears in a wide range of print, broadcast, and electronic outlets, including AutoWise, GearJunkie, NBC News, Forbes Wheels, and his own automotive website, TheDetroitBureau.com. He’s a North American Car and Truck of the Year juror, and board member and past president of the Automotive Press Association. J.D. Power also named him a “Pioneer of the Internet.”

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GM Super Cruise Subscription Prices Announced

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Perusing OnStar's website shows me that the cheapest option is $15/mo, giving that "bundle" option a final cost of $30/mo. I wonder if the Bolt will continue to have the 5-year "free" OnStar for new purchases, which would at least bring down SuperCruise's cost to $15/mo for 5 years. What the article doesn't mention is if we might have the ability to use the subscription on an as-needed basis, such as when going on road trips.  

Right, 100% agree. If my car had the SC capability, I might find it useful for a handful of days per year. $25/mo is $180/yr on top of other useless services, or $300/yr standalone. That is quite steep for something most people may use no more than 5-10 days per year on average. For Cadillac and Hummer buyers, this may not seem significant. But lower priced car buyers won't bite at those prices unless they spend a considerable amount of time on roads covered by the service. Maybe they should consider some sort of occasional use plan, like up to 10 days use for $25. That would appeal to a much broader audience I suspect. Maybe even bundle it with unlimited data plan for the same period, and install a SW switch on the infotainment system to enable\disable it. The company I work for is moving to subscription pricing for some offers. The pricing considers use in the prior month, and bills accordingly. Many of our customers run seasonal businesses, staffing up for Holidays and promotions. A one sized fits all plan drives away a lot of customers.  

The first non-Cadillac , and first fully electric vehicle , available with Super Cruise will be the Chevrolet Bolt EUV .  

An intermittent "subscription" might be doable and useful for trips. Otherwise it is a non-starter for something seldom needed and working only on limited highways.  

A 'Travel' mode would be great, one button to subscribe to SC, internet, allow 100% charge, enable a faster charge curve temporarily, and keep the climate control and interior on when parked (not limited to two hours). One button!  

TLDR the links. So what happens to the current Cadillac owners that have paid for this optional feature?  

Good question. If they were told the price was low in anticipation of a subscription down the road and it would be free for the initial x years, then they were forewarned. Else, maybe they will be grandfathered in on a free subscription plan for x years.  

shrox said: So, what are people going to do while using Super Cruise? You pretty much have to pay attention anyway since it watches you. What's the point then? Just having your arms at your sides? We were promised being able to turn around and dine with family at one point though. Click to expand...

The mass-adoption of the "subscription model" instead of simple purchase options disgusts me. I don't want to rent my "stuff", I want to buy it, so I can do with it as I please. Pretty soon, we won't actually own anything we "own".  

It depends... Tesla wants you to buy it for $10K, if you kept the car for 20 years, that's $500 a year in depreciation. $25/mo would only be $300 a year. It's not always cheaper to own... reason I still do not have rooftop solar.  

What a rip off.  

subscription is a non-starter for me  

At best, solar is break even with investing the $10k at my house in the PNW, and that's after applying 3 different and substantial subsidies. I'll need a new roof in 10 years, so that makes the value proposition even lower.  

I recently read that the wholesale price of electricity from Bonneville Dam is 3.6 cents / kWh, while the average wholesale electricity price in California is 3.0 cents. Yet Oregon retail rate are ~ 8 to 9 cents per kWh while the California average is over 16 cents per kWh. Must be all that cheap solar and wind that is driving up the California costs.  

Battle of the top two American auto makers; Automaker battle over the word 'Cruise' ramps up: Ford wants GM's trademark rights rescinded  

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GM's Super Cruise Is Handy, But It Definitely Has Its Quirks

I super cruised from los angeles to yosemite and back. here's what i learned.

My friend group was recently looking at taking separate cars on a road trip from Los Angeles to Yosemite when we were saved from that logistical nightmare by a big Pearl Beige Metallic GMC Yukon Denali Ultimate. This Yukon is called the Ultimate for a reason; it was equipped with GM’s Super Cruise, a rear seat entertainment system, massaging heated and cooled front seats, a sliding panoramic sunroof, and a 6.2-liter V8 under the giant hood. This truck made our trip so much smoother and more comfortable than piling into multiple cars and caravanning on the 600-ish mile round trip from LA to Yosemite. What really made the difference in our hike to the woods was the Yukon’s Super Cruise Level 2 hands-free driving technology, which massively reduced the fatigue of our long drive.

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I have extensive experience with ADAS technology; I was a field validation test driver for Mercedes-Benz Research And Development’s ADAS team for two years, so I’m critical of ADAS tech. It bears repeating that General Motors’ Super Cruise is a Level 2 system, so the driver is responsible for anything the vehicle does while the system is active. It’s important for consumers to understand that these vehicles do not drive themselves, the driver assistance systems just take some of the stress out of a long drive.

Full disclosure: GMC lent me a loaded Yukon Denali Ultimate with Super Cruise so I could drive my friends from Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park. It made our trip possible, kept us safe and entertained on our drive.

Super Cruise is one of the best Level 2 hands-free driving systems on the market, but it is still susceptible to undereducated owners trusting it too much. During my drive from Los Angeles to Yosemite, Super Cruise did a good job of navigating open freeways, but two-lane roads were much less consistent. Super Cruise handled the 5 freeway well, but its continued operation through construction zones with shifted lanes was sketchy. The system does warn the driver with a silent gauge cluster message that says Super Cruise is active in a construction zone and that the driver should remain alert, but the system should just disengage. If Super Cruise is hands-free driving, then it should deactivate when the driver needs to steer.

The automatic lane change function was more of an annoyance than a benefit, but it’s easily deactivated. With automatic lane change active, the Yukon would merge right and then immediately merge left back into its original lane when it realized that the new lane wasn’t moving any faster. This happened several times, and stressed me out as the driver so I turned it off. It still allows drivers to initiate lane changes while Super Cruise is active by tapping the turn signal, and this function worked flawlessly.

The majority of the drive was smooth, but toward the end of my return drive, Super Cruise developed a habit of randomly accelerating toward vehicles ahead of us, then slamming on the brakes when it got too close. The skies were clear, the lead vehicle wasn’t drifting or merging, and this happened on straight highways so I saw no possible explanation for that behavior.

When the system disengaged and required the driver to take control, Super Cruise wouldn’t reliably disengage when I pressed the steering wheel button. Sometimes I would press the disengage button and wiggle the steering wheel and Super Cruise wouldn’t disengage. A few times it even began slowing down in the lane because it didn’t think I was responding to the disengagement notice despite pressing the button.

The Yukon was the perfect vehicle for this trip; it comfortably sat myself, my four friends and all of our luggage. My friends loved the rear seat entertainment screens and the onboard wifi hotspot, and front seat occupants enjoyed the massaging seats and the great stereo. Road noise was unintrusive on cement roads and nearly imperceptible on smooth asphalt. Fuel economy stayed in the high teens which ain’t great but given the Yukon’s bulk it makes sense. The front seat lumbar controls were infuriating, however. Front seat occupants must use the controller on the side of the seat to navigate a pop-up menu on the infotainment screen since it doesn’t allow touch screen selection of seat adjustment options or massage functions. The menu would freeze often and not respond to seat control inputs, but when it did work it was appreciated.

The Yukon Denali Ultimate with Super Cruise is a hulking vehicle that has tons of passenger space and an epic retractable panoramic sunroof. It safely ferried me and my friends through one of the most beautiful regions in the country, and Super Cruise made the monotonous parts of the drive much more enjoyable. For the vast majority of the drive, Super Cruise worked great, but I recommend babysitting the wheel quite closely. I recommend this for all Level 2 systems, and that includes so-called hands-free systems like Ford’s Blue Cruise and Tesla’s misleadingly named Autopilot. The days of taking a nap while your car autonomously drives you somewhere aren’t quite here yet, unless your friend is an automotive journalist who gets press cars and takes you on road trips, then you basically have an autonomous car. Until then, Super Cruise is a great way to reduce a bit of driver fatigue, just keep your hands close to the wheel.