GM Super Cruise - 15,000 mile review

wwillson

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GM Super Cruise is a system that uses cameras, LIDAR data, and maps to enable hands free driving in concert with adaptive cruise control. The system will maintain the center of the lane and pace the vehicle in front. If a pass is safe, then Super Cruise will automatically or manually pass the slower vehicle while driving on a multi-lane road, such as an interstate highway.

I have owned my Chevy Tahoe for about 10 months and have actively used Super Cruise around 15,000 miles on interstates, US-Highways, and even some state and county highways. Both divided highways and highways with undivided opposing traffic.

The green bar on the steering wheel indicates that Super Cruise is active and steering the vehicle. If the bar is blue it means that Super Cruise is waiting for you to center the vehicle in the center of the lane before it will engage. Flashing green mean you really need to pay attention. White means Super Cruise is active, but not steering the vehicle.

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Super Cruise only has a few purposes. The primary purpose is to steer the vehicle in the center of the lane and maintain a minimum distance from the vehicle to the front. Super Cruise will also pass a slower vehicle if the lane to the left or right is clear. The driver must remain focused on the road ahead, so Super Cruise has a sensor that watches the driver’s eyes to check that the driver is looking ahead at the road. The sensor is very good at determining if a driver is looking elsewhere. For instance if the driver looks at an accident on the opposite side of the interstate, the sensor will detect the driver’s eyes not looking forward and after five seconds, the driver will be warned visually and by seat vibrations to pay attention. If another five seconds goes by without driver attention to the road, then Super Cruise will turn off. If the driver does not take control of the steering wheel, then Super Cruise will begin to slow the vehicle to a complete stop in the current lane and call OnStar. If the driver is warned to pay attention more than a set number of times in a certain duration, then Super Cruise will be disabled until the vehicle is turned off and restarted. I won't detail all the ways I've tried to fool the sensor, but the results is I have not found any way yet. Super Cruise will also turn off when approaching conditions are not safe for use. An example is a sharp curve in the road or when approaching a town or congested area. The driver is always warned before or as Super Cruise is disabled.

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The driver gets the benefit of reduced fatigue on long trips. I regularly drive between Colorado and Iowa and use Super Cruise the entire distance. The difference in fatigue and alertness is astounding. When you don’t have to hold the wheel the entire time, you can’t believe how much less tired and more alert you will be on a long trip.

In a nutshell, Super Cruise drives in the center of the lane, passes when safe, makes sure the driver is paying attention, and disables itself when it should not be used. Super Cruise is only available on roads that have been LIDAR mapped. This map can be found by searching “Super Cruise routes”.

Super Cruise does not pay any attention to the route you have programmed into the map, in fact you do not even need to program a route into the map to use Super Cruise. Super Cruise does not pay any attention to any traffic signs or traffic laws. If the speed limit is 55 and you have the adaptive cruise control set to 80, then it will maintain 80 in the center of the lane until the forward collision avoidance brakes, you brake, or you turn Super Cruise off. It will not pull over for the police car that is attempting to curb you for speeding. In short, the system knows nothing about traffic signs, signals, or laws and doesn’t care.

What does Super Cruise do if it gets confused? It shuts off. Examples might be a low angle morning or evening sun shining off the road surface, snow, wet roads at night, and worn or unpainted lines. All of these conditions can obscure the painted lane lines. I really like that Super Cruise doesn’t guess. If it loses the lines, it shuts off.

I have seen Super Cruise make three mistakes that if uncorrected would have ended with highly unsatisfactory results. However, since Super Cruise warns before making a lane change, there really was little danger.

The first incident was on I-80 in Nebraska in a construction zone. The left lane was closed for work and all traffic was forced into the right lane with barrels. While traveling in the right lane with auto-lane change enabled, Super Cruise saw that the adaptive cruise speed setting was higher than the speed of the car in front. Super Cruise turned on the left turn signal and changed the Driver Information Center to “Auto Lane Change”, then started steering into the left lane. For some reason Super Cruise doesn’t see barrels dividing the lanes.

The second incident was very similar, except the right lane was closed and the left lane was open. Super Cruise doesn’t like to hang out in the left lane and if auto-lane change is enabled, will vacate the passing lane as soon as vehicles in the right lane have been passed. I entered the construction area where the right lane was closed and there were barrels separating the two lanes. You guessed it, Super Cruise commenced a turn into the right lane, ignoring the barrels.

The first two incident types have both happened multiple times. It's not as bad as it may seem, because you get a few seconds warning by the message on the DIC and a vibration in your seat. I knew Supercruise was about to automatically change lanes into the barrels and simply told it not to.

The third fail was passing a semi on I-80 shortly after sunrise in the east bound lanes. The sun was about 10 degrees above the horizon and slightly to the south of the lanes. The sun was casting a diagonal shadow across the passing lane from the semi trailer. I commenced a pass and when Super Cruise saw the diagonal shadow, it must have thought the lane curved. The computer swerved to the right hard enough that it made it about half way out of the left lane before I got my hands on the wheel and brought it back to the left lane.

This is a picture of the shadow that fooled the computer:

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All three of these incident types required me to intervene and override the motor that steers the vehicle. How difficult is the steering motor to override? It’s trivial. When you put a hand or both hands on the steering wheel and turn the wheel, Super Cruise immediately gives the driver complete control. When the vehicle is re-centered in a lane, then Super Cruise will turn back on and display a green light to let you know it’s driving again. This is handy for times when you have to steer around something like a tire carcass in your lane. Any time you don’t want Super Cruise on, just click the off button with your left thumb.

I had auto-lane change enabled for about the first 12,000 miles of Super Cruise use. Right away I noticed that I didn’t like some of the lane change decisions it makes and I hated the attempts to ram the barrels.

When Super Cruise is active and adaptive cruise control sees a slower vehicle ahead in your lane, the system checks for a clear lane to initiate a pass. The lane sensors can see about 200 feet ahead and about 200 feet back. If there is no vehicle ahead, to the side, or back, then this is a “clear” lane and an auto-lane change will commence. This system works great until there is a vehicle with a high differential speed in the passing lane. This could be a faster vehicle from behind or a slower vehicle in front, if the high differential speed vehicle is > 200 feet away, the sensors can’t see it. Many times there has been a faster or slower vehicle in the passing lane that made the situation inappropriate to pass. For example, there is a semi that must be late for a delivery going about 15 MPH faster than I’m going and is still about 250 feet behind in the passing lane. Super Cruise will pull right out in front of that semi and you’ll “be that guy”. Don’t be that guy. The other example is a much slower vehicle in the passing lane. If that slower vehicle is > 200 feet in front of you, the computer believes you have a clear lane and will turn into the passing lane to apply the brakes. The computer can’t see what I can see and frankly fails if the high differential speed vehicle exists in the passing lane.

Because of these examples I disabled auto-lane change. Super Cruise will still change lanes, but it needs the driver to tell it when to do so. Lightly tap the turn signal, which tells Super Cruise that you want to change lanes. The computer still looks for a clear lane and only commences a lane change if that lane is clear. Changing lanes is better as a team. You think and the computer does. I have no plans to ever turn the auto-lane change feature back on.

Adaptive cruise control is required to be on to use Super Cruise. The adaptive cruise control does a great job other than one condition. If you are following a vehicle at a considerably slower speed that the cruise control is set to and you enter a clear lane, then the cruise control will panic accelerate to the set speed. For instance, you are following a car at 60 MPH and you have the cruise control set to 70 MPH. You signal and turn into the left lane to pass. The computer sees a clear lane and a request for 70 MPH, so it essentially holds the accelerator to the floor. This is highly annoying and I am astonished that GM can’t do a better job of programming the logic.

My recommendations for using Super Cruise are pretty simple.
  1. Turn off auto-lane change
  2. Never use Super Cruise in a construction zone.
  3. Pay attention to the road, you are the Captain, be the Captain.

I believe Super Cruse is a great tool when used wisely. I’m sure the programming will get better with time. I rate it 99.9% fantastic and 0.1% fail. Use it with confidence and be smart about it.
 
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So good my money says none of these autonomous car manufacturers are going to step up to the liability if their vehicle causes the accident!
Super Cruise is not autonomous. It only drives the car down the center of the lane and might pass if you allow it to do so, all when the driver is looking forward at the road.
 
I wouldn't have thought lane blocking barrels would confuse it.

Wonder if the trucks report back to the mother ship of aborted passes, so the programming can be improved as time goes on.

I wonder, philosophically, as a driver what would I do if I had less to do? From the outside it seems weird to have to sit there, eyes forward, doing nothing. I have radar cruise in my car but still have to steer.
 
My recommendations for using Super Cruise are pretty simple.
  1. Turn off auto-lane change
  2. Never use Super Cruise in a construction zone.
  3. Pay attention to the road, you are the Captain, be the Captain.

This is exactly what the owners manual says, in a big red warning:
Super Cruise does:
  • Not steer to avoid... construction barriers or cones...
  • Not steer to avoid, or steer through construction zones
 
I appreciate the review. However it only enforces my opinion on these systems: if it's not 100% dependable and predictable and can cause problems, it gets disabled, preferably yesterday.

So my truck has a simple sensor system, it will brake and make noise if it detects something up in front. I disabled the auto braking because 2 or 3 times a year it messes up and hits the brakes. I keep the noise warning because that's useful when in a parking lot driving very slowly.

It gets confused by snow sliding down the front/rear end. Not a chance I'm letting it drive or do anything other than beep.
 
I wonder, philosophically, as a driver what would I do if I had less to do? From the outside it seems weird to have to sit there, eyes forward, doing nothing. I have radar cruise in my car but still have to steer.

It’s a good point, as you can’t disengage. I think the benefit may be, similar to cruise control, that you can sit in more positions and rest your arms in ways that you cannot when steering and holding course and speed.
 
Interesting review.

My only thought/question is, how does one pay attention for the duration when workload is being reduced? I could see myself being lulled into daydreaming and looking but not seeing. That the car can detect that I'm staring out the wrong window is nice, but can it tell if I'm not fixated and concentrating on what is in front of me?

My unqualified impression is that autopilot works in aircraft because typical flying (at least above a certain level) is done in a 3D space where there are few objects--and anything in it is easily tracked/seen/detected (assuming radar is working) (and I'm sure I'm grossly oversimplifying here). But driving is done on a 2D plane that is saturated with items, both moving and not. Pilots have other things that can fill their time, if using autopilot; a car driver who doesn't need to expend work to keep the car in lane... what else is there to do?
 
It’s a good point, as you can’t disengage. I think the benefit may be, similar to cruise control, that you can sit in more positions and rest your arms in ways that you cannot when steering and holding course and speed.

My only thought/question is, how does one pay attention for the duration when workload is being reduced? I could see myself being lulled into daydreaming and looking but not seeing. That the car can detect that I'm staring out the wrong window is nice, but can it tell if I'm not fixated and concentrating on what is in front of me?

With Super Cruise engaged, you are still actively driving, observing everything around, watching ahead and behind. The difference is you don't have to hold the wheel. You can't believe how much tension there is in your arms and shoulders when you hold the wheel. With that tension gone, you don't get nearly as fatigued. With Super Cruise I'm much less likely to get sleepy. Because of this and several other reasons, I see Super Cruise as a big win for safety.
 
Can you wear sun glasses?
Yes and this is an interesting point.

The system shines infra-red light on your face from two emitters in the top of the steering wheel. Without sun glasses you can cover one eye and the system will allow you to use Super Cruise. With sun glasses if you cover one eye, the sensor will not receive enough reflected infra-red light and Super Cruise will turn off.
 
With Super Cruise engaged, you are still actively driving, observing everything around, watching ahead and behind. The difference is you don't have to hold the wheel. You can't believe how much tension there is in your arms and shoulders when you hold the wheel. With that tension gone, you don't get nearly as fatigued. With Super Cruise I'm much less likely to get sleepy. Because of this and several other reasons, I see Super Cruise as a big win for safety.
Interesting, guess I'd have to try it. Won't be any time soon.

I've long driven with just one hand (used to drive a stick) and so I alternate hands as I get tired. Lean on the door, lean on the console, shift about. Don't use cruise control much, too many hills around here, but I guess when I do, my feet do wind up in a different position--in a truck, I guess I might be in a more comfortable sitting position?
 
Rear radar was a 1k option that my wife had to have in the Honda- finicky from day one and quit altogether shortly after warranty went away. I'm NOT going to fix it.
 
I appreciate the review. However it only enforces my opinion on these systems: if it's not 100% dependable and predictable and can cause problems, it gets disabled, preferably yesterday.

So my truck has a simple sensor system, it will brake and make noise if it detects something up in front. I disabled the auto braking because 2 or 3 times a year it messes up and hits the brakes. I keep the noise warning because that's useful when in a parking lot driving very slowly.

It gets confused by snow sliding down the front/rear end. Not a chance I'm letting it drive or do anything other than beep.

Yeah, our Prologue has front and rear collision detection and braking.

Absolutely horrible features and I set them to Alert Only, not Alert and Brake, for both front and rear. The annoyance with that is that every time you turn the car on, you get an error, and a permanent dash emoji... but less annoying than it slamming on the brakes for no reason!

On the forward system, several times it thought I was going to crash and slammed on the brakes while driving, almost causing me to get rear-ended. And when reversing, well, good luck if it's raining! I had to turn it off to leave the Target parking lot as I couldn't even back up - it would beep and slam on the brakes every few seconds.

I don't know what sensor suite Super Cruise uses but it makes sense it only works on highways, where you aren't going in reverse, and less is going on, even in traffic.
 
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