At a time when the entire auto industry is racing toward fully autonomous driving, recent headlines about General Motors’ apparent abandonment of its Ultra Cruise advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) seemed out of step with the way everything is going. However, a GM official clarified that Ultra Cruise is about to be merged with the much more well-known Super Cruise.
According to GM spokesperson Aimee Ridella, “GM is not scaling back its advanced driver assistance (ADAS) programs. We have reallocated our ADAS-focused resources to bring even more capability to Super Cruise under one recognizable consumer brand.”
This decision comes after reports indicated the Ultra Cruise program was to be canceled, which is only partially true. Sources said that GM has decided to focus on the current Super Cruise system and expanding its capabilities rather than having two different, similarly named systems.
Understanding the Evolution of Super Cruise
Super Cruise was first released in 2017 on the then-new Cadillac CT6 gasoline-powered luxury sedan. It has long been classified as a “Level 2” type of semi-autonomous technology, a driver assistance aid above purely human operation. Over the past few years, GM has upgraded Super Cruise as it spread to a variety of other gas and electric models, including the Chevrolet Bolt, Cadillac Escalade and Lyriq, GMC Hummer EV and many more. The latest version of Super Cruise includes features like automatic lane-changing, and is widely regarded as one of the better ADAS technologies on the market.
Introduction and Abandonment of Ultra Cruise
In 2021, GM announced Ultra Cruise, meant to be an even more advanced system that built on the foundation laid by Super Cruise. The biggest difference between the two was Ultra Cruise’s addition of Lidar, but it was still a “Level 2+” system—something that could eventually enable hands-free driving in 95% of all driving scenarios. Though it was only meant to be limited to hundreds of thousands of roads that GM has already mapped out, it was originally supposed to debut in 2023 on the $300,000 Cadillac Celestiq—which obviously did not happen.
Amid reports that the Ultra Cruise program was ending, a source familiar with the situation indicated GM was merging that program with Super Cruise. The automaker had two different teams working on two different solutions, and since Ultra Cruise was designed to be just a “more capable” Level 2 system, it made sense internally to combine them. Ultimately, what GM may end up doing is offering higher and better “levels” of Super Cruise as new, more automated vehicles roll out.
Marketing Decision: Embracing a Well-Known Brand
The decision to merge Ultra Cruise with Super Cruise came down to a kind of marketing one; Super Cruise is far more well-known among consumers than Ultra Cruise is. Confusion abounds, though, as Super Cruise and Ultra Cruise are not to be conflated with Cruise, GM’s troubled robotaxi division that develops autonomous technology independently, or BlueCruise, which is made by Ford.
Nonetheless, GM has its work cut out in 2024. The Cruise robotaxi arm ended last year with layoffs, the ouster of its founding CEO, and a number of questions about its safety. The now-cancelled Bolt EV carried most of its electric sales, and its stock price hasn’t consistently grown in 10 years. But it’s not walking away from the goal of more advanced automated driving—just leaning into a brand that most people know better anyway.
