GM Super Cruise - 15,000 mile review

[Just a civilian pilot]

Kind of like pilots flying airliners. They must be lazy because they use automation that manages a ton of tasks, flies and lands the airplane, does sanity checks on systems many times/second. I think pilots like @Astro14 and @Just a civilian pilot should man up and shut the automation off and hand fly the airplane from takeoff to landing. Now we have to ignore the fact that since the advent of CRM and automation in airliners, the accident rate has declined 90%, but pay no attention to that fact because these pilots need to be doing the flying by hand all the time instead of sitting back and being lazy.

Of course you understand I'm being sarcastic, right?

Automation in cars are making cars safer as well. How many front end collisions do you think forward collision avoidance system have already prevented? When automation keeps the person for rear-ending me, frankly I don't care why the human driving the car didn't brake, I care that I didn't get rear-ended. This is just one example of why I'm a big fan of automotive automation.

If you think people with GM Super Cruise are playing with their phones while using Super Cruise, you're wrong. You must either be looking forward or the system will shut itself all and warn you that you have to pay attention to the road. It knows if you are looking down at your phone. Seems to me that when people are using Super Cruise automation they are by default much safer because they have to pay attention.

Lazy, AND over paid.

 

[hemioiler]

Kind of like pilots flying airliners. They must be lazy because they use automation that manages a ton of tasks, flies and lands the airplane, does sanity checks on systems many times/second. I think pilots like @Astro14 and @Just a civilian pilot should man up and shut the automation off and hand fly the airplane from takeoff to landing. Now we have to ignore the fact that since the advent of CRM and automation in airliners, the accident rate has declined 90%, but pay no attention to that fact because these pilots need to be doing the flying by hand all the time instead of sitting back and being lazy.

Of course you understand I'm being sarcastic, right?

Automation in cars are making cars safer as well. How many front end collisions do you think forward collision avoidance system have already prevented? When automation keeps the person for rear-ending me, frankly I don't care why the human driving the car didn't brake, I care that I didn't get rear-ended. This is just one example of why I'm a big fan of automotive automation.

If you think people with GM Super Cruise are playing with their phones while using Super Cruise, you're wrong. You must either be looking forward or the system will shut itself all and warn you that you have to pay attention to the road. It knows if you are looking down at your phone. Seems to me that when people are using Super Cruise automation they are by default much safer because they have to pay attention.

I get what you're saying, but to be fair, a 16 year old can hop in and drive a standard truck with minimal training and not get tired or cause accidents. It's a very low bar to entry compared to a multi million dollar aircraft carrying hundreds of passengers. So if people are relying on automation to "make their driving easier", then perhaps in the case of some, they're better off not driving at all? Not directing this at you personally, just in general.

I haven't experienced any of these systems yet so I'm not really on one side or the other, but neither am I excited for this tech either. I write software for a living so I'll avoid this stuff as long as I can.

 

[Cujet]

Out of spec reviews just did a new model 3 ride along using FSD and it was pretty awesome to watch.

Maligned as it may be I've not seen anything that works better.

Watch from 35Min when they switch drivers.

Tesla's product is nothing short of amazing. They also don't 'cap' the top speed like Ford does when on the highway. Let's be clear, Tesla's system will hang with traffic, even if it is 10 or 15mph over the limit. Although Tesla still won't tailgate like my wife... They have done a good job ensuring it won't fall too far back in a busy fast moving situation.

That makes it worthwhile, unlike other efforts that can't mimic a normal competent driver.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Recent Motor Trend article praising Super Cruise:

https://www.motortrend.com/news/best-tech-2025-gm-super-cruise-driver-assistance/

Comparing it to FSD:

Now, we can practically hear the catcalls: “What about Tesla’s Full Self Driving?” We own a Model Y with FSD, and although we’ve been amazed at its attempts to navigate complex situations, we’ve been equally amazed at how it randomly decelerates, changes lanes for no apparent reason, or responds to a road closure by endlessly circling the block. More alarming, we’ve had so many near-collisions with FSD that we’ve begun to question whether it’s responsible to keep using it. Super Cruise takes the safer course, which is to leave the negotiation of complex situations to human drivers. It’s not perfect, but it does not subject us (or the unwitting drivers around us) to anywhere near the level of calamity that FSD does.

 

[UncleDave]

I suppose people are a lot lazier than I think.

Sometimes it has nothing to do with being lazy, but simply being old.

My 80 year old Mom had a stroke a month ago and lost peripheral vision in her right eye but is otherwise fine.

She lost her ability to drive with this incident, whereas she was driving to the gym 3 days week and shopping for the household every few days - all that is gone now.

An electronic set of guardrails or partial automation could help her regain her mobility and many seniors in this position.

Old age is coming for all of us and I can only hope I dont lose my freedom before automation can help me.

 

[dbias]

My GTI has pretty decent distance pacing cruise control and lane centering but you cannot let go of the wheel for more than like five seconds or it will start beeping at you. I find the auto cruise to be a great fatigue saver on long trips and I generally have the center arm rest set to where I can effortlessly touch the wheel to keep it happy.

If you don’t respond to its requests to take the wheel it will pull over to the side of the road and call 911

 

[brages]

Sometimes it has nothing to do with being lazy, but simply being old.

My 80 year old Mom had a stroke a month ago and lost peripheral vision in her right eye but is otherwise fine.

I have a 15 year old son who is a stroke survivor. It has affected his coordination, so I don't know if he will be able to drive safely. He took Driver's Ed and the instructor said he wasn't ready to drive on his own.

If self driving tech can get good enough for him to operate independently, it would be a huge benefit for him.

 

[JohnnyG]

Kind of like pilots flying airliners. They must be lazy because they use automation that manages a ton of tasks, flies and lands the airplane, does sanity checks on systems many times/second. I think pilots like @Astro14 and @Just a civilian pilot should man up and shut the automation off and hand fly the airplane from takeoff to landing. Now we have to ignore the fact that since the advent of CRM and automation in airliners, the accident rate has declined 90%, but pay no attention to that fact because these pilots need to be doing the flying by hand all the time instead of sitting back and being lazy.

Of course you understand I'm being sarcastic, right?

Automation in cars are making cars safer as well. How many front end collisions do you think forward collision avoidance system have already prevented? When automation keeps the person for rear-ending me, frankly I don't care why the human driving the car didn't brake, I care that I didn't get rear-ended. This is just one example of why I'm a big fan of automotive automation.

If you think people with GM Super Cruise are playing with their phones while using Super Cruise, you're wrong. You must either be looking forward or the system will shut itself all and warn you that you have to pay attention to the road. It knows if you are looking down at your phone. Seems to me that when people are using Super Cruise automation they are by default much safer because they have to pay attention.

So, what's the point?

 

[wwillson]

So, what's the point?

Are you serious?

 

[John105]

Because our car was a total loss, we ordered a new one, and super cruise was an option I specifically did not want. I do realize simply bypassing it when it was available, makes me old in thinking. It looks like it would be nice to have if it were included, and then the car owner had to pay for a subscription. Kind of like satellite radio--there was once a time when one had to pay for hardware, and service. I happened to order my last car at that time (2006) and specifically did not order the XM receiver.

At any rate, my daily driver doesn't even have a back up cam. Since it's been 5 weeks now, it's now a habit. I look over my shoulder to backup, even with the car that has a cam. I wonder how a typical car owner would feel about having to look over their shoulder? And I realize that paradigms and desires shift. A person who just got the car we're waiting for posted around 25 questions, to which someone replied your salesperson should be fired.

But one question was, how can the rearview mirror cam be turned off, so it's just a regular mirror. This made me think. The owner of this car likely never owned a car from the 90's or older, so they are not familiar with a switch that is flipped. I do think the day will come when people never realized there was a time when one had to keep both hands on the wheel. And at 9 and 3 or below, not 10 and 2 or 11 and 1.

Net net is in 2025 I'd like Super Cruise if the hardware came with the vehicle, and one could try it by paying for a subscription. But not given its price. Not to mention the vehicle will go 1.5 miles down the road, and back, 5 days a week.

 

[MCompact]

I honestly did not think that I would enjoy having a car equipped with Level 2 autonomy, but I really like the Distronic Plus on my C43. I use it for long interstate slogs and in stop and go traffic. If I want to change lanes I activate the turn signal and if it is safe to do so the car changes lanes. On the interstate the system warns me to keep my hands on the wheel after 20-30 seconds, but in stop and go traffic it simply does the job without my input. I've also never had an issue overriding the system. Best of all, there is no subscription fee. The only "feature" that I immediately disabled was "Route-Based Speed Adaptation"; it caused the car to slow down in corners to "80 year old man wearing a ball cap and Ban-Lon slacks driving a Lucerne" velocities.
I also love the surround view camera system and the parking sensors. They are infinitely more helpful than just a back-up camera.

 

[John105]

I honestly did not think that I would like having a car equipped with Level 2 autonomy, but I really like the Distronic Plus on my C43. I use it for long interstate slogs and in stop and go traffic. If I want to change lanes I activate the turn signal and if it is safe to do so the car changes lanes. On the interstate he system warns me to keep my hands on the wheel after 20-30 seconds, but in stop and go traffic it simply does the job without my input. I've also never had an issue overriding the system. Best of all, there is no subscription fee. The only "feature" that I immediately disabled was "Route-Based Speed Adaptation"; it caused the car to slow down in corners to "80 year old man wearing a ball cap and Ban-Lon slacks driving a Lucerne" velocities.
I also love the surround view camera system and the parking sensors. They are infinitely more helpful than just a back-up camera.

It really sounds like the features on the vehicle up your driving skills and abilities, and what other things one is able to do while taking a trip. Much like a kid in 5th grade playing NHL '25 on PS5--suddenly they have the ability to play at the NHL level. What happens when someone has all this and they are given a 2007 car that doesn't even have a backup cam and it has a pedal to the left of the brake pedal

 

[MCompact]

It really sounds like the features on the vehicle up your driving skills and abilities, and what other things one is able to do while taking a trip. Much like a kid in 5th grade playing NHL '25 on PS5--suddenly they have the ability to play at the NHL level. What happens when someone has all this and they are given a 2007 car that doesn't even have a backup cam and it has a pedal to the left of the brake pedal

Well, I also have a 1995 3er with three pedals; its only electronics are confined to Bosch Motronics and ABS.
I can enjoy vehicles at both ends of the technological spectrum.