GM to Take Super Cruise the Extra Mile(s)

Launched on Cadillac’s flagship CT6 sedan for 2018, the hands-off Super Cruise driver-assist system has apparently already taken passengers 2.5 million miles, General Motors claims. The feature works only on divided, carefully mapped highways, with a driver-monitoring camera ensuring motorists don’t pull any Tesla-inspired stunts.

With Super Cruise poised to migrate from the CT6 to other vehicles in the coming years, GM plans to add an extra 70,000 miles of “compatible” roadways to the feature’s network, including a key route missing from the previous version.

Announced Wednesday, the new highways bolster the existing 130,00 miles of U.S. and Canadian roads programmed into the system. Owners of existing 2018 and 2019 CT6 models will gain the expanded stomping grounds via over-the-air updates, while buyers of the 2020 CT6 and upcoming CT5 sedan can expect to find the enlarged network when they take ownership.

As it stands, U.S. drivers have seven ways to cross Texas and the Great Plains heading in either direction, but Canadians weren’t able to use the hands-off system crossing the ruler-flat expanses of their country’s interior. This should soon be rectified. You’ll be able to travel from coast to coast with Super Cruise.

Not immediately, however. The full 70,000 miles should be available by the fourth quarter of this year, GM claims, with the updates arriving intermittently between then and now. Also included in the raft of updates is “performance improvements, enhancements to increase Super Cruise availability and enhancements to the Driver Attention System.”

Besides the route across central Canada (it’s worth noting that much of the new route through Ontario is not divided, except by a double yellow line), the bulk of the new miles are mainly situated in the American South and Midwest.

[Images: General Motors]