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GM Details “Super Cruise” Self-Driving System
Details have become public about the functionality of the “Super Cruise” semi-autonomous driving system General Motors Co. plans to roll out next year, Reuters reports.
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Details have become public about the functionality of the “Super Cruise” semi-autonomous driving system General Motors Co. plans to roll out next year, Reuters reports.
The system, which GM announced two years ago, can accelerate, brake and steer a car without driver input under certain highway driving situations. The carmaker had planned to debut Super Cruise in Cadillac’s flagship CT6 luxury sedan by the end of this year. Now it plans to do so in 2017.
Reuters says GM has been corresponding with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for several months about how its system works and what it is designed to do if a driver isn’t ready to resume control.
Super Cruise enables operators to relinquish control of their vehicles for long periods. But it also uses facial recognition software to determine whether the driver is alert and ready to assume control. If the system determine the driver isn’t paying attention to traffic or has fallen asleep, it activates a series of audio, visual and haptic alerts. If the drive fails to respond, GM’s OnStar concierge service attempts to speak to the driver.
If all attempts to elicit a response fail, the system is designed to turn on the hazard blinkers and slowly bring the vehicle to a halt. Reuters says GM asked NHTSA in March whether that last-resort response was permissible. The agency agreed but asked GM to prove the procedure wouldn’t “pose an unreasonable risk to safety.”
The series of alerts and responses GM is building into Super Cruise appear to make its system considerably more interactive than, for example, the original version of Tesla Motors Inc.’s AutoPilot feature. Two months ago Tesla said it will update its system to limit hands-off driving and include driver warnings when the technology requires human intervention.
The Tesla enhancements follow a fatality in May that occurred when the AutoPilot system failed to see a truck and crashed into it at highway speed. Other owners reported less serious crashes while their Tesla vehicles were in AutoPilot mode.
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