General Motors has launched a new ADAS platform for the company’s premium vehicles. The company says that Ultra Cruise enables true hands-free driving in 95 percent of driving scenarios.

Ultra Cruise covers more than 2 million miles of roads at launch in the United States and Canada. GM says it has the capacity to grow up to more than 3.4 million miles. Coverage includes nearly every road including city streets, subdivision streets and paved rural roads, in addition to highways. 

The new ADAS platform will coexist with existing ADAS platform Super Cruise in the company’s lineup, with Super Cruise available on more mainstream vehicles and Ultra Cruise reserved for premium entries.

Ultra Cruise is powered by a 5-nanometer, scalable compute architecture built on the Ultifi software platform and Vehicle Intelligence Platform. Ultra Cruise will be able to add features, functions and services over time through over-the-air updates.

Ultra Cruise works through a combination of cameras, radars and LiDAR, developing accurate, 360-degree, three-dimensional statistical representations of the environment surrounding vehicles with redundancies in critical areas. Ultra Cruise also incorporates an integrated LiDAR behind the windshield.

Smart diagnostic and learning systems will identify scenarios where Ultra Cruise needs upgrading, triggering data recordings in vehicles equipped with the service. These recordings will then be processed through GM’s back office data ecosystem for continuous improvement of the system.

The primary human-machine-interface (HMI) in Ultra Cruise-equipped vehicles, the Ultra Cruise Dynamic Display, is a freeform display directly in the driver’s line of sight. Ultra Cruise’s HMI strategy also includes helping the driver to stay engaged behind the wheel, ready to take over if required. Super Cruise’s Driver Attention Camera system will be carried over to Ultra Cruise.

GM is also developing an Ultra Cruise app that will be viewable in the centre display of Ultra Cruise-equipped vehicles only when the vehicle is parked. The app will provide more centrally located information, including driver’s statistics, trips and history.

“Ultra Cruise is not just a game changer in terms of what it enables − a door-to-door hands-free driving experience − but a technological one as well,” said Doug Parks, GM executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain. “It’s been developed completely in-house.”

“The combination of Ultra Cruise for premium offerings and Super Cruise for lower-cost products will enable us to offer driver-assist technology across price points and segments,” said Parks.