GM Announces Plans To Produce Connected, Self-Driving Cadillacs By 2017 Model Year

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
General Motors (GM) plans to produce its first car capable of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication within the next two years, and has also promised to introduce advanced technology allowing limited hands-free driving, chief executive Mary Barra announced Sunday at the Intelligent Transport System World Congress in Detroit.
According to Gail Sullivan of the Washington Post, Barra said 2017 model-year Cadillacs would be the first GM vehicles to have the technology which will allow the car to operate itself while on the highway and in stop-and-go traffic, without drivers placing their hands on the wheel or their foot on the brakes.
It will accomplish this, and will also be able to communicate with other cars, thanks to what GM is calling “Super Cruise” semi-automated technology, explained CNET’s Steven Musil. This system will automatically keep a vehicle in properly-equipped freeway lanes, making any speed or steering adjustments to account for traffic or road changes, he added.
Barra explained that Super Cruise, which the company first demonstrated in 2012, is built in part using a foundation of GM’s OnStar security, navigation and diagnostics program, as well as rear-vision cameras, adaptive forward lighting, blind-zone monitoring and lane-keeping technology. It is expected to debut in a “high-end” Cadillac CTS for the 2017 model year before eventually making its way to other GM makes and models.
“Thanks to V2V, OnStar and a full suite of active safety features, we believe that the CTS will be one of the most – if not the most – intelligent and connected production vehicle on the road,” Barra said during her presentation Sunday. “The CTS will talk to other V2V-equipped cars to avoid crashes… it will talk to V2I [vehicle-to-infrastructure]-equipped infrastructure to reduce congestion… and its 4GLTE connection and active safety features will give drivers peace of mind.”
“Being at the vanguard, we clearly have a lot of work ahead of us. But we will put the time to good use by accelerating our R&D and vehicle engineering efforts… engaging with regulators around the world… and most importantly… talking to customers,” she added. “I’m convinced customers will embrace V2V and automated driving technologies for one simple reason: they are the answer to everyday problems that people want solved.”
However, Reuters reporter Ben Klayman explained that, like other automakers, GM has emphasized the need for drivers to remain attentive while operating hands-free vehicles and stated that the person behind the wheel is ultimately responsible for the vehicle. While Google is currently working on fully autonomous automobiles, Barra said that a fully automated commercial vehicle may not be available until at least 2020.
The carmaker has yet to disclose how much the feature will cost, or when it could become available on other Cadillac models and/or other GM brands, said Klayman. Barra’s announcement comes just days after GM was announced as one of the automotive giants serving as a founding partner at the University of Michigan’s Mobility Transformation Center (MTC), which is working to develop and implement V2V and V2I technology.
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