GM introduces a more advanced hands-free driving tech, called Ultra Cruise

KUALA LUMPUR: When it comes to semi-self-diving assist systems, Tesla Autopilot and General Motors Super Cruise are known to be the best. But now the companies are taking their systems to the next level. On one hand, Tesla is working on its Full Self Driving system while GM just announced the all-new Ultra Cruise. 

The Ultra Cruise is the upcoming advanced driver-assistance technology from General Motors that will target the goal of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion. It is designed to enable hands-free driving in 95% of all driving scenarios at every paved road in the U.S. and Canada. Initially, it will cover around 2 million miles of roads in these countries, while later on, its capacity will grow up to 3.4 million miles. 

This means the customers will be able to travel truly hands-free across city streets, subdivision streets, and paved rural roads, in addition to highways. 

“Ultra Cruise is not just a game changer in terms of what it enables ­− a door-to-door hands-free driving experience − but a technological one as well," said Doug Parks, GM executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “It's been developed completely in-house.”

Powered by a 5-nanometer, scalable compute architecture, the system intends to provide new automated driving features like support in case of automatic and on-demand lane change, left and right hand turns, and close object avoidance, react to permanent traffic control devices, follow internal navigation routes and more. 

How does it work?

The hi-tech system works through a combination of cameras, radars, and LiDAR, providing  360-degree,3-D statistical representations of the environment surrounding the vehicle. It also incorporates an integrated LiDAR behind the windshield. Another key component of the system is its Human Machine Interface by which it showcases information to the driver.

“We believe that the combination of different sensors, or sensor fusion, leads to the most robust hands-free driver-assist system for our customers,” said Parks.

GM will introduce the new Ultra Cruise on select models in 2023, with Cadillac cars being the first to have it.

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