General Motors is back in the autonomous vehicle game less than a year after closing its robotaxi unit, aiming to launch a car in 2028 that can operate without driver input.
GM plans to launch the Cadillac Escalade IQ electric SUV that, when on the highway, will allow drivers to drive hands-free and without having to look at the road, the company announced Wednesday. The feature will be disabled on local roads, although GM wants to offer it for urban driving in the future. The Detroit automaker also plans to roll out the technology in more models.
Late last year, GM backed away from its autonomous driving ambitions following an incident involving one of its Cruise robotaxis. In May, the company indicated it planned to revive the project by hiring Sterling Anderson as head of product development from autonomous truck startup Aurora Innovation Inc.
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During one of his first internal meetings at GM, Anderson promised to make autonomous driving technology a top priority. He has since rehired some Cruise employees and brought in new talent for autonomous vehicles, he said in an interview Wednesday. He believes GM has a future — not by operating a robotaxi service, but by selling self-driving cars for personal use.
“I would have been a strange choice for chief product officer if the company wasn’t committed to autonomy, right?” Anderson said. “I think that’s a sign. I wouldn’t be here if we weren’t making autonomous vehicles, because obviously I believe in that.”
GM already offers a hands-free driving feature called Super Cruise, which allows the driver to drive hands-free, but can only take their eyes off the road for a limited time.
With Cruise, the company was trying to compete with Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo. Those ambitions were cut short when one of its cars hit and dragged a pedestrian in 2023.
Anderson has spent much of his career in assisted and autonomous driving. The former Aurora chief product officer wrote his doctoral thesis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about a decade ago on semi-autonomous driving. He also worked at Tesla Inc. on the AutoPilot system.
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