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GM Super Cruise is evolving into Ultra Cruise, for hands-off city driving

GM has a "big team" working on an advanced version of its hands-free driving assistance system, Super Cruise, that will expand its capability beyond highways and apply it to city streets, the automaker's vice president of global product development Doug Parks said Tuesday. GM is also continuing to improve its existing Super Cruise product, Parks said during a webcasted interview at Citi’s 2020 Car of the Future Symposium. "As we continue to ratchet up Super Cruise, we continue to add capability and not just highway roads," Parks said, adding that a separate team is working on the hands-free city driving product known internally as "Ultra Cruise." "We're trying to take that same capability off the highway," he said. "Ultra cruise would be all of the Super Cruise plus the neighborhoods, city streets and subdivisions. So Ultra Cruise's domain would be  essentially all driving, all the time." Parks was quick to add that this would not be autonomous driving. Advanced driving assistance systems have become more capable, but they still require a human driver to take control and to be paying attention. "What we're not saying is that Ultra Cruise will be fully autonomous 100% of the time, although that could be one of the end games," Parks said. Parks didn't provide a timeline for when Ultra Cruise might be available. A GM spokesperson said in a statement after his interview that the company continues to expand its hands-free driver assistance system technology across its vehicle portfolio and has "teams looking at how we can expand the capabilities to more scenarios." GM said it "does not have a name or anything specific to announce today, but stay tuned." This new Ultra Cruise feature would put it in competition with Tesla's Autopilot advanced driving system, which is largely viewed as the most capable on the market today. Tesla's "full self-driving" package, a more capable version of Autopilot, can now identify stop signs and traffic lights and automatically slows the car to a stop on approach. This feature is still considered to be in beta. GM's Super Cruise uses a combination of lidar map data, high-precision GPS, cameras and radar sensors, as well as a driver attention system, which monitors the person behind the wheel to ensure theyÂ’re paying attention. Unlike TeslaÂ’s Autopilot driver assistance system, users of Super Cruise do not need to have their hands on the wheel. However, their eyes must remain directed straight ahead.

2019 Cadillac CT6-V preorders start at $89,785

Cadillac's top-of-range sedan will start at less than $90,000, just barely. At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Cadillac announced it is opening preorders for the 2019 CT6-V, which will start at $89,785. Keeping things exclusive, Cadillac has 275 preorder slots available to the U.S. market for the CT6-V. It will briefly join the ATS-V and the CTS-V to give Caddy a trio of powerful sedans before the ATS-V and CTS-V bow out after the 2019 model year to make way for new models. Cadillac offers less powerful V-Sport variants, as well. The CT6-V, formerly the CT6 V-Sport, uses a Cadillac-exclusive powertrain. The twin-turbo 4.2-liter V8 makes a claimed 550 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque. This engine is hand-built and nicknamed the "Blackwing." It is linked to a 10-speed automatic transmission, which puts power to the ground through Cadillac's all-wheel-drive system. As an added luxury perk to buying the CT6-V, Cadillac will include 2 days at the V-Performance Academy at Spring Mountain. The trip is essentially all expenses paid, with tuition and luxury accommodation part of the package. Cadillac estimates the first CT6-V models to arrive in mid-2019. Now, it was widely reported that the Detroit-Hamtramck production facility that builds the CT6 would be among those closed by GM. Cadillac President Steve Carlisle told Automotive News, however, that the company is exploring production alternatives to keep the flagship luxury sedan for sale in the United States. Apparently, it was never actually on the chopping block, and instead, officials at the time of the plant closure announcement failed to mention that CT6 production would be moved rather than cancelled. Where that new facility would be has yet to be announced, but Carlisle told Automotive News that moving production to China, where the CT6 Plug-In Hybrid is built, is "the least-preferred option." Related Video:

Semi-autonomous Cadillac CT6 has Batman's seal of approval

Earlier this year, Cadillac pushed the launch of its Super Cruise semi-autonomous technology back to 2017, but it looks like the automaker is still hard at work testing the system on its vehicles. Our photographers snapped a CT6 sedan with what appears to be the Super Cruise technology in broad daylight. The CT6 in the pictures, ignoring the massive equipment on the car's roof, appears to be stock. The barely camouflaged vehicle has more sensors on the front fascia and a black rear bumper, but other than those points, looks normal. Getting back to the massive piece of equipment on the CT6's roof. There's no way to definitively state what it is, but there appears to be four cameras on the corners of the rack. A sensor or camera is also fitted to the right side mirror, which is slightly camouflaged. With all of the wires from the roof going into the vehicle, there's a chance that the massive blacked-out piece of equipment on the roof could be used to gather data. While the equipment looks extremely scientific, someone at Cadillac must have a sense of humor, or be a huge fan of DC Comics, as a Batman's logo is prominently displayed on the roof-mounted gear. Cadillac announced its Super Cruise semi-autonomous technology two years ago. The system will be able to speed the car up, keep the vehicle in its lane, and slow it down. The goal, in 2014, was to introduce the technology in two years (2016), but the automaker delayed the tech until 2017. Related Video: Featured Gallery Cadillac CT6 Super Cruise Spy Shots View 13 Photos Image Credit: Spied Bible / Brian Williams Design/Style Spy Photos Cadillac Technology Autonomous Vehicles Luxury Sedan cadillac ct6 Super Cruise