GM Expects to Offer Hands-Free Driving by 2016

[cpzilliacus]

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GM Expects to Offer Hands-Free Driving by 2016 - Automated Steering System, Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications Would Seek to Reduce Crashes

General Motors Co. GM -0.14% plans to launch by 2016 cars with a hands-free automated driving system and Wi-Fi-enabled vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems designed to help avoid collisions, intensifying the race among the world's auto makers to build cars that can partially drive themselves and avoid crashes without the help of their human drivers.

The company will offer its "super cruise" system, which will allow a driver to ride in a car with hands off the steering wheel on a freeway with proper lane markings, on a yet-to-be named new Cadillac vehicle. Cadillac officials have said they intend to launch by 2016 a large sedan to compete with rivals such as the Mercedes S-Class.

GM officials declined to say how much the "super cruise" feature will cost. A package of optional driver-assistance features currently sells on Cadillac models for about $3,000.

Officials with the auto maker said the super-cruise system will be designed to require that drivers remain attentive and ready to retake control of the vehicle. They also stressed the distinction between this "automated" driving feature and the vision of a fully automated, "driverless" car promoted by Silicon Valley's Google Inc. GOOGL +0.78%

Separately, GM said it plans to start installing vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems in 2017 model Cadillac CTS sedans beginning in 2016, a likely first for such technology in the North American market.

[vdeane]

Officials with the auto maker said the super-cruise system will be designed to require that drivers remain attentive and ready to retake control of the vehicle.

But we all know that people with the feature will actually start talking on their phones and whatnot with the feature.  "But officer, my hands wouldn't have been on the wheel anyways!"

[The Nature Boy]

I'll wait until at least the third model year because I even think of buying one. As with anything software related, it's going to have a ton of bugs at launch.

[DaBigE]

Officials with the auto maker said the super-cruise system will be designed to require that drivers remain attentive and ready to retake control of the vehicle. They also stressed the distinction between this "automated" driving feature and the vision of a fully automated, "driverless" car promoted by Silicon Valley's Google Inc. GOOGL +0.78%

If you have to be ready to retake control, what's the point? With how short peoples' attention spans seem to be these days, I foresee that requirement being a fatal flaw to GM's system.

[briantroutman]

The progression of driver assistance tech (lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, self braking) has been inching toward a self driving car for some years now. And on the horizon, we have fully autonomous vehicle like Google's driverless car. But between here and there, there's a very dangerous gulf–vehicles which are capable of auto-piloting down a freeway but aren't truly autonomous.

The implicit paradox is mind-boggling: "We've equipped your vehicle with an automated driving system, but you need to remain alert, attentive, and ready to take over vehicle control at a moment's notice."  As has been mentioned, what's the point?

[Roadrunner75]

How hard is it to keep your hands on the wheel and maintain control of your car?  I have to worry enough about "brains-free" driving around here as it is.  I'm tired of sci-fi features that try to distance you from the fact that you're in a 3+ ton missile of doom hurtling down a crowded highway with other people who aren't paying attention to what they're doing either.  We'll see how it goes when the first 'hands-free' car plows somebody down.

If you don't want the responsibility of driving a car, don't drive.

[Brian556]

I think that a self-driving feature would be much easier to implement for freeway use only, since the task of driving on a freeway is far less complex, and has far less variables.

I don't think I'd trust a car to drive itself in urban areas, or winter weather.

[Rainking75]

I love driving! I'm not sure I'd want to pay more to give that up.

I have a similar lament about the reduced availability of manual transmissions...

[SP Cook]

Government Motors cannot even make a basic Chevy that actually works, and I am going to let that crowd drive for me?

Right.

[Henry]

I'm not surprised that Cadillac is being used for the driverless experiment, because we're accustomed to finding these fancy gadgets on the higher-end cars from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Audi and the like. It'll be interesting to see how this latest technology advancement goes, seeing that as a kid, I imagined that all cars would drive themselves by the year 2000, and 14 years later, they're still not able to.

[freebrickproductions]

It'll be interesting to see how this latest technology advancement goes, seeing that as a kid, I imagined that all cars would drive themselves by the year 2000, and 14 years later, they're still not able to.

Well, you were only off by about 16 years.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Officials with the auto maker said the super-cruise system will be designed to require that drivers remain attentive and ready to retake control of the vehicle.

...thus making the feature completely useless and prone to a whole lot of abuse.

[Pete from Boston]

So what happens when said driver becomes incapacitated and/or dead behind the wheel?  Car just drives until it runs out of gas, then...?

[The Nature Boy]

So what happens when said driver becomes incapacitated and/or dead behind the wheel?  Car just drives until it runs out of gas, then...?

Maybe there should be a periodic "if you are still alive, please press the red button" reminder.

[kj3400]

In my opinion, if you want a car driven for you, get a ride with someone who actually wants to drive or have someone drive the car for you.

[Brian556]

Maybe there should be a periodic "if you are still alive, please press the red button" reminder.

Locomotives already have this. They shut down if the operator does not press the button.

[Pete from Boston]

Maybe there should be a periodic "if you are still alive, please press the red button" reminder.

Locomotives already have this. They shut down if the operator does not press the button.

Locomotives operate in a lot less traffic.

[jeffandnicole]

Sounds just like a bunch of people who many years ago said "Why is it so important to have a cell phone?  They can just wait until I get home if they want to talk to me". 

After 10 years of people using self-driving cars, people will wonder how we lived without them.

[corco]

I mean, I guess this is the only way to phase in the technology.

But man, how hard would it be to stay awake and stay focused on the road if you're not touching anything? That's just an accident waiting to happen, even for people who try to use it properly.

[Brian556]

But man, how hard would it be to stay awake and stay focused on the road if you're not touching anything? That's just an accident waiting to happen, even for people who try to use it properly.

You wouldn't have have to focus on the road. Simple solution. Have an alert when the autopilot needs to disengage. If the driver does not respond to the alert, the car automatically stops and parks and the nearest safe spot. Seas shakers could be used to awaken sleeping drivers.

[corco]

But man, how hard would it be to stay awake and stay focused on the road if you're not touching anything? That's just an accident waiting to happen, even for people who try to use it properly.

You wouldn't have have to focus on the road. Simple solution. Have an alert when the autopilot needs to disengage. If the driver does not respond to the alert, the car automatically stops and parks and the nearest safe spot. Seas shakers could be used to awaken sleeping drivers.

This isn't quite that though- it's a form of super cruise control, not true self-driving. Presumably, much like cruise control, the need to disengage it could come really quickly, and there's not really any evidence that these 2016 Cadillacs will know when they need to be disengaged.

Actually, http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article1904364.html

Looks like it won't even be capable of lane changes, let alone pulling itself over to the shoulder and parking. I guess this will be useful in stop and go traffic, but that's about it. I do worry about this creating more lane campers- just get in the middle lane, throw on your active cruise, and go without regard to what's around you.

[Brian556]

If it's not capable of a lane change, then it's not truly a self-driving car,

The self driving system should be all-or-nothing. If it's not capable of driving the car completely at least on freeways, then it should not be implemented at all just yet.

[Pete from Boston]

I can't wait to see the moose test videos.

[corco]

If it's not capable of a lane change, then it's not truly a self-driving car,

The self driving system should be all-or-nothing. If it's not capable of driving the car completely at least on freeways, then it should not be implemented at all just yet.

Well right, and they're not calling it a self-driving car.

It is good to test this stuff though, gradually ease in the technology, and after reading what it actually does it sounds like it's not quite useful enough to be dangerous.

[Duke87]

The company will offer its "super cruise" system, which will allow a driver to ride in a car with hands off the steering wheel on a freeway with proper lane markings

So basically the instant you encounter a work zone, poof, auto pilot doesn't work.

My problem here is that I see there being a sort of uncanny valley effect with vehicle automation - as you take a fully manual machine and start to automate things, it becomes safer. But when you start to get close to full automation without actually being there, there is a zone on the spectrum that is much more dangerous than no automation at all.

The idea that the driver is doing nothing to control the car most of the time but might need to take over at a moment's notice at any time just seems to be a disaster waiting to happen.