General Motors Co. is killing off the "UltraCruise" brand and merging its research and development team with the team responsible for "SuperCruise" as the company rethinks its goals for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Last week, CNBC reported that General Motors would "terminate the UltraCruise project" and instead focus on the SuperCruise system currently used in all of the company's models. GM spokesperson Aimee Ridella clarified that the ultimate goal is to improve Super Cruise, but there will be no layoffs as a result.
"GM is not scaling back its advanced driver assistance programs. We have reallocated ADAS-focused resources to bring additional capabilities to SuperCruise under a consumer-recognized brand," Ridella said in an email.
General Motors first announced the UltraCruise system at an investor event in 2021, describing it as a giant leap forward for the company's Super Cruise system. By comparison, UltraCruise will cover "95 percent" of driving scenarios on 2 million miles of U.S. roads, the company said.
The subtext is that GM wants a system comparable to Tesla's Full Self-Driving system, which is a Level 2 system that enables hands-free driving on surface roads but still requires the driver to take control when necessary. While Tesla has been criticized for launching a beta version of its ADAS system before it was truly ready, GM clearly believes that the next generation of fully autonomous driving systems is worth pursuing.
As defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE International), the L2 system can control steering, acceleration and deceleration, monitor blind spots, and even automatically change lanes. But the driver needs to remain alert and keep their eyes on the road; if they don't, the vehicle's driver monitoring system will theoretically detect it and issue several warnings to the driver before disengaging.
Super Cruise, first launched in 2017, was General Motors' first attempt at autonomous driving. The system relies on detailed maps of the highway system, and it can only be activated on these roads.
Now that SuperCruise is the dominant and only ADAS brand in GM's portfolio, the automaker is revising its goals for partial automation. This includes reassessing the goals of achieving autonomous driving 95% of the time, and the sensors needed to achieve those goals.
Previously, GM outlined several sensors that will power driver assistance systems, including cameras, short- and long-range radar, and lidar sensors. GM said its vehicles will be equipped with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon platform to process all sensor data.
The first car to feature UltraCruise is the ultra-luxury Cadillac Celestiq. Production of the $340,000 customized vehicle has reportedly begun at General Motors' Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.
The decision to cancel the UltraCruise brand comes as the automaker deals with the fallout from injuries to pedestrians in self-driving cars operated by its wholly-owned subsidiary Cruise. Several top executives have resigned and the company's self-driving cars have been taken off the road pending an internal investigation.