GM Announces Ultra Cruise, Enabling True Hands-Free Driving Across 95 Percent of Driving Scenarios

Table Of Content

• GM’s Safe Deployment of Hands-Free Technology Shapes Ultra Cruise
• GM Announces Ultra Cruise, Enabling True Hands-Free Driving Across 95 Percent of Driving Scenarios
• Ultra Cruise will ultimately enable door-to-door hands-free driving on all public paved roads in the U.S. and Canada
• GM Brings Powerful New Compute Architecture to Ultra Cruise to Help Enable Door-to-Door Hands-Free Driving
• Scout Motors wants to put the ‘mechanical’ back into electric trucks

Visit cadillacsupercruise.com, chevysupercruise.com, or gmc.com/connectivity-technology/super-cruise for compatible roads and full details. Automatic Lane Change and Lane Change on Demand are not available while trailering. Dubbed Ultra Cruise, the new system uses sensors like cameras, radars, and lidar to control a vehicle’s steering, acceleration, and braking. GM says the system can be used on 2 million miles of paved roads and in “95 percent” of driving scenarios. Though which vehicles will get Ultra Cruise is still a mystery; GM says it will be available in a handful of premium vehicles in 2023, though the automaker wouldn’t disclose specific models. The Celestiq will kick off GM’s lineup of premium EV offerings that will all come equipped with its new sensor suite and applicable software, but which model will follow the Cadillac remains a secret.

GM’s Safe Deployment of Hands-Free Technology Shapes Ultra Cruise

Prior to that incident, Cruise had been announcing launches in new cities — including Dallas, Houston and Miami — at a startling pace. First introduced in 2017, Super Cruise was GM’s first foray into hands-free driving. The system relies on a detailed map of the highway system, which are the only roads where it can be activated. General Motors is getting rid of the “Ultra Cruise” brand and merging the team that was working on it with the team responsible for Super Cruise, as the automaker reconsiders its goals for advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS).

GM Announces Ultra Cruise, Enabling True Hands-Free Driving Across 95 Percent of Driving Scenarios

GM’s Chief Engineer, Jason Ditman, revealed the company’s strategic approach to ensuring a seamless and secure operation of Ultra Cruise. With a comprehensive array of over 20 sensors, including LiDAR, radars, and cameras, the cutting-edge technology offers unparalleled control and awareness of driving situations, further bolstering drivers’ confidence in the system. Previously, GM outlined several of the sensors that will power the driver-assist system, including cameras, short- and long-range radar, and a lidar sensor. GM has said its vehicles will come with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Ride Platform to process all that sensor data. The destination-to-destination hands-free system will use more than just cameras to “see” the world. These systems work together through “sensor fusion” to provide Ultra Cruise with a confident, 360-degree, three-dimensional representation of the vehicle’s surroundings.

Ultra Cruise will ultimately enable door-to-door hands-free driving on all public paved roads in the U.S. and Canada

With a Level 3 system, a driver could theoretically take their eyes off the road under certain circumstances, like low-speed stop-and-go traffic. A key component of Ultra Cruise is its Human Machine Interface, through which the system presents information to the driver and communicates when they need to be in control of the vehicle. Building on the HMI currently used in Super Cruise, Ultra Cruise’s HMI also shows drivers that they and the system are seeing the same thing. Smart diagnostic and learning systems automatically identify scenarios where Ultra Cruise needs upgrading, triggering data recordings in vehicles equipped with the service.

GM Brings Powerful New Compute Architecture to Ultra Cruise to Help Enable Door-to-Door Hands-Free Driving

The keen focus on safe deployment means we may not see exactly what Ultra Cruise can do for some time. All that said, the Cadillac Celestiq will arrive with all the necessary hardware and software required to operate Ultra Cruise whenever GM feels it is safe. Notably, that’s different from the Level 3 systems that Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford currently have under development.

1Ultra Cruise Advanced Driver Assistance Technology functionality is currently in preproduction and subject to change. Capability will evolve over time by way of over-the-air updates once functionality becomes available. 2Safety or driver-assistance features are no substitute for the driver’s responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. The driver should remain attentive to traffic, surroundings and road conditions at all times. Read the vehicle Owner’s Manual for more important feature limitations and information.

GM Is Not Cancelling Ultra Cruise, Just Merging It With Super Cruise

In fact, it will launch covering more than 2 million miles of paved roads, including city and subdivision streets, paved rural roads and highways. Super Cruise was first released way back in 2017 on the then-new Cadillac CT6 gasoline-powered luxury sedan. It has long been classified as a "Level 2" type of semi-autonomous technology, a driver assistance aid above purely human operation.

GM is preparing for another major expansion of its hands-free Super Cruise system

Over the past few years, GM has upgraded Super Cruise as it spread to a variety of other gas and electric models, including the Chevrolet Bolt, Cadillac Escalade and Lyriq, GMC Hummer EV and many more. The latest version of Super Cruise includes features like automatic lane-changing, and is widely regarded as one of the better ADAS technologies on the market. GM’s fundamental strategy for all ADAS features, including Ultra Cruise, is safely deploying these technologies. A deep knowledge of what Ultra Cruise is capable of, along with the detailed picture provided by its sensors, will help us understand when Ultra Cruise can be engaged and when to hand control back to the driver. We believe consistent, clear operation can help build drivers’ confidence in Ultra Cruise. "GM is not scaling back its advanced driver assistance (ADAS) programs," GM spokesperson Aimee Ridella told InsideEVs today.

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Ultra Cruise is powered by a 5-nanometer, scalable compute architecture future-proofed through the Ultifi software platform and Vehicle Intelligence Platform. Ultra Cruise can add features, functions and services over time through frequent over-the-air updates. GM’s two hands-free advanced driver-assist systems will coexist in the company’s lineup with Super Cruise available on more mainstream vehicles and Ultra Cruise reserved for premium entries. Ultra Cruise builds upon the capabilities of Super Cruise and allows the company to offer Super Cruise on more mainstream vehicles and reserve Ultra Cruise capabilities for premium entries. Due to fact that the driver must remain engaged at all times, GM states the Ultra Cruise ADAS was architected as a Level 2 autonomous driving suite.

GM drops Ultra Cruise branding, merges tech into Super Cruise - Motor Authority

GM drops Ultra Cruise branding, merges tech into Super Cruise.

Posted: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The automaker had two different teams working on two different solutions, this source said, and since Ultra Cruise was designed to be just a "more capable" Level 2 system, it made sense internally to combine them. Ultimately, what GM may end up doing is offering higher and better "levels" of Super Cruise as new, more automated vehicles roll out. “We are not walking away from the capability, taking the money and moving to a different program," the source indicated.

And those actions can create a domino effect that has the potential to be dangerous — perhaps even fatal. Now we’re getting more of a glimpse — albeit an extremely limited one — into the types of sensors and hardware that will be included in these Ultra Cruise-equipped vehicles. GM has said that the bespoke ultra-luxury Cadillac Celestiq would be one of the first vehicles to come with Ultra Cruise — but that vehicle isn’t expected to go into production until early 2024.

Ditman told us that component-level testing is underway and all sensors are in the final stages of validation. GM vehicles equipped with Ultra Cruise prototype software are currently being tested at the automaker’s proving grounds in Milford, Michigan, while off-property testing is underway with drivers remaining in control of the steering. GM will be the first company to use the Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Ride™ Platform for advanced driver assistance technology, which features an industry-leading 5-nanometer Snapdragon™ SA8540P SoC and SA9000P artificial intelligence accelerator. GM’s all-new, advanced driver-assistance technology, Ultra Cruise, will ultimately make hands-free travel across most of the U.S. and Canada possible.

GM will be the first company to use the Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Ride™ Platform for advanced driver assistance technology, which features an industry-leading 5-nanometer  Snapdragon™ SA8540P SoC and SA9000P artificial intelligence accelerator. Before we dig into the new details of Ultra Cruise, we should start with GM’s ADAS predecessor, Super Cruise. Super Cruise is a hands-free driver assistance feature introduced years ago that uses adaptive cruise control technology and connected services in each GM branded vehicle to navigate LiDAR-enabled map data using real-time positioning, cameras, and sensors.