General Motors has created a special add-on to their cars that makes driving easier on highways. It’s known as Super Cruise and is one of the best driver-assist systems available. And starting this year, it’s going to get even better!
This year, General Motors (GM) is introducing a new type of technology called Ultra Cruise. It’ll be so good that the car will drive itself on most roads in the United States without any help from people. The first car to have this feature will be the 2024 Cadillac Celestiq which starts production in December.
Ultra Cruise is a system like Super Cruise where you still have to watch the road and take over when needed. If not, it will turn off. This means that it stays at Level 2 on the SAE scale of self-driving cars. To get higher than Level 2 on this scale, automated driver-assist systems need to be able to work without someone actively watching all the time.
GM’s Ultra Cruise system can recognize different traffic regulations, like following a route, obeying speed limits, and changing lanes. It can even turn left and right, steer clear of things, and park in your driveway.
New technology is allowing people to build cars that can drive themselves. To make it happen, we’ll need a combination of software and hardware. The list includes things like detailed maps in a computer system, plus over 20 sensors on the car. One of these will be something called “lidar,” which is mounted behind the windshield near the driver’s seat. There will also be a camera watching the driver to make sure they’re paying attention to what’s going on outside and not falling asleep.
The vehicle will have sensors around it to give a complete, 360-degree view of its surroundings. The data is going to be processed by the scaled computer that controls and drives the car. This computer is like two laptops stacked together and is using Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Ride Platform to do its job.
The computer created by GM has the same power as hundreds of regular computers. It includes two processors, called Snapdragon SA8540P and SA9000P which help with a lot of important tasks that have to be completed quickly over and over again. These tasks are: sensing, perception, planning, localization, mapping and driver monitoring.
GM has made it so that its computer can receive updates via the internet. It’s designed to accept updates for any new technology in the future – including some new system called Hyper Cruise, which GM has not actually said much about yet.