Cadillac CT6 PHEV

General Motors will add a plug-in hybrid electric propulsion system to the Cadillac CT6 in 2017, promising it will be the lightest, longest-range model in its segment (see related story: Cadillac CT6 PHEV for next year.

Cadillac’s approach to automated driving suggests it is at arm’s length from GM’s team of autonomous-technology engineers and technicians, which include the newly acquired Cruise Automation group from San Francisco. That unit will focus on urban applications and likely involve the automaker’s Lyft and Maven ride-hailing and car-sharing services.

The addition of Super Cruise to the CT6 also confirms a slightly different approach to autonomy than some of GM’s rivals, most notably Ford. Ford intends to skip intermediate automated-driving technology such as Super Cruise and go straight for full autonomy, where the car does all the work and items such as the steering wheel, brake and accelerator are unnecessary.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,” De Nysschen said. “It depends on where you stand on the development part. We see a very phased development into full autonomous capability.”

Robust automated technology Cadillac’s goal, de Nysschen says.

That is the reason GM delayed its rollout, Lie says, giving up costly ground to competitors such as Mercedes-Benz already fielding a similar technology.

“There were certain scenarios where we said, ‘Hey we’ve got to rethink some of these multiple highway intersections, bridges, tunnels…all the difficult situations and put more attention to the details.’ We had to enhance it, make it safer.”

On the integration front, Super Cruise is a first step in defining how other GM vehicles will keep drivers alert and safely re-engage them in to the process when it becomes too complex for the machine.

For example, when radars, cameras and GPS map data on the CT6 determine it is safe to engage Super Cruise, the car will notify the driver. While in semi-autonomous mode, the driver will be permitted to remove his hands from the wheel, but sensors such as vision systems monitor attentiveness.

If the car determines it must exit Super Cruise and re-engage the driver, a green light bar will illuminate on the steering wheel and the head-up display. Should the driver fail to take over, the light bar and HUD will flash red, and the seat will vibrate along with an auditory alert.

“That should startle any driver (who) is not alert,” de Nysschen told the tech summit.

If the driver still does not take the wheel, the accelerator will be disabled and the car will coast safely to a standstill. A human adviser from GM’s OnStar service also would join the scenario, one de Nysschen says would avert a “disastrous result” even under normal conditions where the driver may have conked out.

“The goal for us is not to be first to market but to go to market with a system that is absolutely robust,” he says.

And one that does not take away from the visceral driving experience.

Lie points to a low-slung creamy white CT6 parked nearby, “How could you own this car and not drive it, know what I mean?”

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