General Motors is ditching the “Ultra Cruise” brand and merging the team that was working on it with the team responsible for Super Cruise, as the automaker reconsiders its goals for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Last week, CNBC reported that GM was “ending the Ultra Cruise program,” focusing instead on the current Super Cruise system that is available across the company's entire line of vehicles. GM spokeswoman Aimee Ridella clarified that the ultimate intention is to improve Super Cruise but that no one will be fired as a result of this decision.
“GM is not reducing its advanced driver assistance programs,” Ridella said in an email. “We have reallocated our ADAS-focused resources to bring even more capability to Super Cruise under a recognizable consumer brand.”
“GM is not reducing its advanced driver assistance programs.”
GM first announced Ultra Cruise during an investor event in 2021, describing it as a big leap from the company's Super Cruise system, which allows hands-free driving on mapped divided highways. By contrast, Ultra Cruise will cover “95 percent” of driving scenarios on 2 million miles of highways in the United States, the company said.
The subtext was that GM wanted a system to rival Tesla's Full Self-Driving, which is a Level 2 system that allows hands-free driving on surface roads but still requires the driver to take control if necessary. . Although Tesla has been criticized for releasing a beta version of its ADAS before it was actually ready, GM clearly thought it was worth pursuing a next-generation hands-free driving system.
As defined by SAE International, a Level 2 system can control steering, acceleration and deceleration, as well as monitor blind spots and even change lanes automatically. But the driver must remain alert and keep his eyes on the road; If they don't, the vehicle's driver monitoring system will, in theory, detect it and the system will send several warnings to the driver before disengaging.
First introduced in 2017, Super Cruise was GM's first foray into hands-free driving. The system is based on a detailed map of the road system, which are the only roads where it can be activated.
Now that Super Cruise is the dominant (and only) ADAS brand in GM's portfolio, the automaker is reviewing its partial automation goals. That includes reevaluating the goal of trying to achieve hands-free driving in 95 percent of scenarios, as well as what sensors will be needed to achieve these goals.
Previously, GM described several of the sensors that will power the driver assistance system, including cameras, short- and long-range radars, and a lidar sensor. GM has said its vehicles will come with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon Ride platform to process all sensor data.
The decision to drop the Ultra Cruise brand comes as the automaker is dealing with the fallout from a pedestrian injury involving a driverless car operated by its Cruise subsidiary. Several executives resigned and the company's driverless vehicles were taken off the roads pending an internal investigation.
