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Super Cruise will make 2018 Cadillac CT6 semi-autonomous

General Motors has been working on its semi-autonomous driving system for years. Called Super Cruise, it had initially been slated for a fall 2016 debut. Of course, something as critical to safety as a self-driving system should ideally have the bugs worked out before putting it in the hands of customers, and the launch date had to be pushed back. It appears that Super Cruise is road-ready now, as Cadillac has announced the system will be available in the 2018 CT6 sedan when it goes on sale this fall. Super Cruise offers hands-free driving on the highway, taking control of steering and speed under the supervision of the driver. An attention detection system – a camera and infrared lights that track head position – ensures that the driver is paying attention and is available to take over driving responsibilities. If needed, Super Cruise will initiate a series of nags, including a flashing light bar on the steering wheel, to regain the driver's attention. If the driver is unresponsive, the system can bring the car to a safe stop and use OnStar to call first responders. The system employs a suite of sensors, cameras, and GPS, as well as precision lidar-scanned map database, to place the car where it needs to be on the road and in the center of its lane. It only works if the sensors detect appropriate road conditions, and is limited to the more predictable terrain of divided highways with on- and off-ramps. Yes, it's limited, but safety is paramount, and drivers who spend a lot of time on the highway will appreciate the convenience nonetheless. Related Video:

Cadillac XTS to become Opel flagship sedan?

According to Auto-News.de, Opel is considering using Cadillac's all-new big sedan, the XTS, as the base for its new flagship car, which would likely carry the name Omega.
WorldCarFans.com speculates that Opel could use GM's 3.6-liter direct-injection V6 that generates 304 horsepower or, possibly, a 2.8-liter turbocharged six-cylinder engine that creates 321 horsepower to power the vehicle. The European automaker could even use a 195-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine in this application - fine, since many of Europe's largest sedans are powered by smaller, more efficient engines.
Regardless of power, the Omega could arrive at dealerships by the end of 2013.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.