Coming very soon to the Canadian market this fall, the 2018 Cadillac CT6 will feature the much talked-about Super Cruise self-driving system that will allow hands-free highway driving.
General Motors describes it as the industry’s first genuinely hands-free autonomous driving technology. Super Cruise uses a driver attention system, cameras and radar sensors as well as precision map data to guide the vehicle on limited-access divided highways with well-defined exit and entry ramps.
Concretely, the system adds an automatic lane-centering function to the suite of active safety systems already featured in the CT6; the technology allows for controlling speed, braking and steering on the highway. It cannot be used on country roads or in the city due to the presence of intersections and other unpredictable dangers.
GM’s engineers have digitized every kilometre of limited-access highway in Canada and the United States to provide the car with detailed information on the road they’re driving on. This functionality is backed by a more accurate GPS, which can determine in real time the exact location of a vehicle 4 to 8 times more accurately than older GPS systems.
To give you a better idea of how the Super Cruise system works, here’s a video of a demonstration carried out recently in New York City: