Adaptive cruise control has come a long way since it first appeared on a handful of Japanese luxury cars in the 1990s. In the past few years, many automakers have begun to add semi-autonomous features and driver monitoring systems. One of the most sophisticated of these setups, Cadillac’s Super Cruise, has now added hands-free lane changing.
What’s it like to actually use? We tested the system on a stretch of Interstate 96 between Wixom and Howell, Michigan.
Heading west toward Lansing at 70 miles per hour a green light on the upper arc of the steering wheel indicates it’s okay to let go and attempt a hands-free lane change. Despite plenty of commercial and private vehicles sprinkled across the freeway’s three lanes, nudging the turn signal to the right is all that’s required for our 2021 Cadillac Escalade ESV loaner to safely move one lane to the right and continue driving straight ahead.
Cadillac calls the hands-free lane change feature “lane change on demand,” the newest addition to the latest version of Super Cruise advanced driver-assistance technology, renamed Enhanced Super Cruise. Previously available only on select Cadillac passenger cars, for 2021 the tech has been expanded to Cadillac’s Escalade SUV.
Super Cruise works in concert with adaptive cruise control, which must first be turned on before attempting to enable the hands-free technology.
Similarly, it can only be added to vehicles already equipped with GM’s regular adaptive cruise control systems, adding $2,500 to the price tag of a new Escalade.
Enhanced Super Cruise can only be engaged on roads programmed into its system–about 200,000 miles in the U.S. and Canada, Super Cruise Chief Engineer Mario Maiorana tells Forbes Wheels. They’re mostly limited-access highways.
The eyes of Enhanced Super Cruise are an array of radar and cameras placed strategically around the vehicle. On the Escalade, the array, according to Maiorana is four radars on the back, two short-range and one long-range on the front. There’s also a 360-degree camera system with a camera under each side mirror and one in the rear.
On our test drive Super Cruise was successfully challenged with keeping the big Escalade straight, navigating several rises, dips and curves in the road while maintaining safe distances behind vehicles of all sizes and types without the benefit of any driver intervention.
Another new feature provides some breathing room while traveling next to a large vehicle when Super Cruise is engaged. If the radar picks up, say, a big semi-trailer truck passing close by, the system will shift the vehicle a bit within its lane to provide some space.
Super Cruise, however, does not tolerate driver inattention. Cameras and sensors can detect if the driver’s gaze strays from the road, triggering an escalating sequence of warnings.
A driver busted by Super Cruise for not paying attention first sees the green light on the steering wheel flashing. If the hint isn’t taken, the flashing green light turns to flashing red, handing control of the vehicle back to the driver while ringing chimes and triggering a haptic feedback: strong vibrations in the seat and bolsters. In extreme cases the vehicle will slow down or even stop. At that point, a call is initiated from General Motors’ OnStar service to check on the driver.
During our test drive it appeared Super Cruise does allow some leeway. We attempted several times to trigger the driver attention system by looking away from the road for a few seconds at a time but apparently not long enough to be detected.
Level 2 Isn’t “Take a Nap” Driving
As automakers attempt to work up to what’s known as Level 5 autonomy, where the vehicle does all the driving, Enhanced Super Cruise rates somewhere between Level 2 and 3, allowing the driver to let go of the wheel for certain stretches of road, maintaining speed and direction, and now, even changing lanes hands-free. It’s the hands-free driving capabilities that set Super Cruise apart from most other advanced driver assistance technologies.
One of Super Cruise’s big “responsibilities” is using its technology to allow the driver temporary respites from hands-on steering and what Maiorana calls “mundane tasks on the highway” without getting into a wreck. But Maiorana stresses that Super Cruise is not a collision avoidance system.
“Super Cruise is a driver assistance feature like older cruise control systems,” said Maiorana. “But that doesn’t mean that collision avoidance features aren’t always there and working in concert with the system.”
Perhaps the closest competitor to Super Cruise is Tesla’s Autopilot. Tesla’s system does offer hands-free options, but it’s still a Level 2 assistance system and the name may give some drivers a false sense of its capabilities. Autopilot has had a spotty safety record, including a fatal crash last February when a Model X with Autopilot engaged ran into a crash barrier at an off-ramp in California’s Silicon Valley.
Nor can such systems always be improved with simple fixes. Enhanced Super Cruise’s expanded abilities come from different and additional hardware over earlier Super Cruise systems, not software updates.
Making Sure the Driver Pays Attention
Like it or not, humans are still required for driving, and keeping them engaged is a key part of assisted driving even in vehicles that don’t offer hands-free motoring. Many components of more advanced systems like Super Cruise and Autopilot are now common in vehicles far more accessible than $100,000 Escalades. With a few years of data on these systems, manufacturers and customers are learning how well they work.
Subaru’s EyeSight system is a good microcosm of the kinds of comprehensive driver assist setups many manufacturers are moving to make standard. It focuses on collision avoidance and relieving driver fatigue.
EyeSight’s blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alerts trigger audio and visual warnings, as does its lane centering assist. The latter can automatically keep the car centered in its lane. The pre-collision Assist uses front-mounted cameras to determine a potential collision with another vehicle or pedestrian, flashing more audio and visual alerts and eventually intervening by applying the brakes.
To these increasingly popular features, Suburu adds a system that looks inward: DriverFocus. Using facial recognition software, Subaru’s cameras scans drivers for signs of fatigue. If a driver takes their eyes off the road for more than three seconds, visual and audio warnings sound. As with Super Cruise, if the warnings go ignored the vehicle will begin to slow down and eventually bring itself to a complete stop.
Based on reporting from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Subaru says that EyeSight has been found to reduce the rate of rear-end crashes with injuries by up to 85%.
A study released this past December by IIHS indicates that modern crash avoidance technology really has played a role in reducing accidents.
According to the study:
• Forward collision warning reduced front-to-rear crashes by 27% and front-to-rear crashes with injuries by 20%.• Forward collision warning plus automatic braking reduced front-to-rear crashes by 50% and front-to-rear crashes with injuries by 56%.
• Lane departure warning reduced single-vehicle, sideswipe and head-on crashes by 11% and the same type of collision with injuries by 21%.
• Rear automatic braking reduced backing crashes (when combined with rearview camera and parking sensors) by 78%.
The study did not include any benefits or consequence from the use of hands-free features such as those offered with Super Cruise, but the technology needed to make Super Cruise work effectively, better and more sensors, is likely to improve the abilities of other collision avoidance systems.
Enhanced Super Cruise is currently available on Cadillac’s 2021 Escalade as well as its CT4 and CT5 sedans, but will be offered on 22 products before calendar year 2023. Those models will include the upcoming Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover, Chevrolet’s Bolt EV and eventually Chevrolet and GMC full-size pickups and SUVs.