Adventurous backpackers and small town residents could soon spend part of their car commute without their hands clutching a steering wheel. By 2025, US carmaker General Motors says it intends to expand its Super Cruise Driver Assistance network to include 750,000 miles of roads in the US and Canada. The latest expansion, which places an emphasis on connecting rural towns and cities, means GM drivers can drive on roads with their hands by their side if they are in a GM vehicle equipped with Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS) features. Hands free or not, the drivers will still have to keep their eye on the road.
The auto industry’s continued investment in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as hands free deriving highlights the continued consumer interest in partial autonomous features even as more eye-catching fully autonomous driving systems face renewed consumer backlash.
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What is Super Cruise and how is it changing?
Super Cruise launched in 2017 as the first commercially available hands-free driving system. Compatible GM vehicles use a combination of on-board cameras and radar sensors as well as GPS data and lidar mapping information to scan roads to help the vehicles stay in their lanes and adjust speed. Infrared cameras in the vehicles are simultaneously used to monitor drivers and ensure they are keeping their eye on the roads. In cases of emergencies, the car will require a driver to regain control of the vehicle. GM refers to this as a “hands-off, eyes-on” system.
The actual scanning of the thousands of miles of roads is performed by a company called Dynamic Map Platform which uses vehicles equipped with lidar laser sensors to scan the roads. Those scanned maps, which are sent back into a system maintained by GM, show lane level data and topography which helps inform vehicles on when to adjust speeds. The company claims its system can help…
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