GM unveiled Ultra Cruise - an advanced driver-assistance technology

6 October 2021, 17:00:28

General Motors unveiled Ultra Cruise, an all-new, advanced driver-assistance technology, designed to ultimately enable hands-free driving in 95% of all driving scenarios. Ultra Cruise will cover more than 2 million miles of roads at launch in the United States and Canada, with the capacity to grow up to more than 3.4 million miles. Customers will be able to travel truly hands-free with Ultra Cruise across nearly every road including city streets, subdivision streets, and paved rural roads, in addition to highways. GM's two hands-free advanced driver-assist systems will coexist in the company's lineup with Super Cruise available on more mainstream vehicles and Ultra Cruise reserved for premium entries. Ultra Cruise will join GM’s lineup of hands-free advanced driver-assist systems on select models in 2023, with Cadillac being the first to introduce the technology.

GM's Ultra Cruise is powered by a 5nm, scalable compute architecture future-proofed through the Ultifi software platform and Vehicle Intelligence Platform. Ultra Cruise can add features, functions, and services over time through frequent over-the-air updates. It will add the following features to the already existing Super Cruise ones:

Provide users with information based on their experience with the system through an all-new dynamic display
React to permanent traffic control devices
Follow internal navigation routes
Maintain headway; follow speed limits
Support automatic and on-demand lane change
Support left and right-hand turns
Support close object avoidance
Support parking in residential driveways

The system also features a full 360-degree perception around the vehicle and works through a combination of cameras, radars, and LiDAR, developing accurate, 360-degree, three-dimensional statistical representations of the environment surrounding vehicles with redundancies in critical areas. Ultra Cruise also incorporates an integrated LiDAR behind the windshield.

A key component of Ultra Cruise is its Human Machine Interface, through which the system presents information to the driver and communicates when they need to be in control of the vehicle. Building on the HMI currently used in Super Cruise, Ultra Cruise's HMI also shows drivers that they and the system are seeing the same thing. The primary HMI in Ultra Cruise-equipped vehicles, the Ultra Cruise Dynamic Display, is a freeform display directly in the driver’s line of sight. It’s designed to help drivers stay focused on the road. Ultra Cruise’s HMI strategy also includes helping the driver to stay engaged behind the wheel, ready to take over if required. Super Cruise’s Driver Attention Camera system will be carried over to Ultra Cruise.

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