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posted by martyb on Saturday August 05 2017, @08:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the SAE-Level-3-Autonomy dept.

Motor Trend http://www.motortrend.com/news/gm-super-cruise-2018-cadillac-ct6-with-auto-pilot/ reports that Cadillac will offer self-driving as an option starting this fall. The first few paragraphs from the article include:

What is it? The rebirth of full-on Autopilot, which Tesla Model S and X owners enjoyed for a little while before a back-seat “driver” died in a crash despite receiving seven warnings from the car to resume control and the lawyers shut down that party. That system was never intended to, you know, actually be an “auto pilot,” and this one’s automatic piloting is considerably more restrictive than Tesla’s cowboy over-the-air upgraded system. It’s also fully vetted by what surely by now must be the jitteriest and most conservative lawyers in all of autodom.

  • Highways only. The system only becomes available once you’ve entered a meticulously lidar-mapped, divided, limited-access highway in the U.S. or Canada—or a limited-access stretch of a highway that switches between on-ramps and crossings (like California Highway 101). When the steering wheel icon appears at the upper right of the central speedometer gauge, press the Super Cruise button, and when the car has locked on to the center of the lane, the light bar on the top of the steering wheel turns green.
  • Pay attention. Infrared emitters on the top quadrant of the steering wheel illuminate the driver’s head and face, and a steering column–mounted camera with infrared capability (for night detection) constantly monitors head position and eye focal point. Look away for 15 seconds or less, and the system demands you return your gaze to the road by first flashing the green light, then flashing red, sounding a tone, vibrating the seat, and ultimately issuing a voice warning. If none of that succeeds in returning the driver to the task of controlling the vehicle, it will slow to a stop in the lane of travel, put the hazard flashers on, and summon help via OnStar. If you get to those last stages and resume control, Super Cruise locks you out until the next time you stop and restart the car. A nice touch: capacitive sensors detect the driver’s hand(s) on the wheel, eliminating the need to wiggle it to verify control as with some lane keep assist vehicles.

Many more details in TFA. But it's laden with trackers (according to Privacy Badger).


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:26PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:26PM (#549236)

    ... when it's a crap semi-auto. If it's not full automatic without needing my attention, then i don't even want a feature like that. Not that i would buy a Cadillac, i'll never be able to afford a new one anyway.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:35PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 05 2017, @09:35PM (#549242)

    I believe that this system meets Level 3 of the SAE levels defined for self driving--

    > Conditional Automation
    > The driving mode-specific performance by an automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task with the expectation that the human driver will respond appropriately to a request to intervene.

    Google cache copy of the pdf here,
        https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:L1EFhwdg7fAJ:https://www.sae.org/misc/pdfs/automated_driving.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us [googleusercontent.com]

    Or download the PDF directly from the link on the cache page to read Levels 0 (none) through 5 (no steering wheel needed).

    In a few years this will be cheap enough that GM will spread it down to their other brands (Buick, Chevy) as an option. A few years after that it will be on the used car that you can afford.