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just made a significant hands-free driver assistance announcement that illustrates how different—and similar—GM’s approach is to
Tesla
’s
. The announcement also demonstrates how the industry talks about driver-assistance technology.
Thursday, GM nearly doubled the network of roads open to Super Cruise hands-free driving technology to 750,000 miles. To put that into perspective, the moon is about 240,000 miles from Earth, and GM says its network is the largest in North America.
Super Cruise can do many driving tasks. It requires human supervision 100% of the time, just like systems from other auto makers.
“GM is all-in on safely deploying Super Cruise as we make the technology available on more vehicles, more roads, and for more people to enjoy,” said Anantha Kancherla, GM vice president of advanced driver assistance technologies, in a news release. “A key part of that is expanding the road network—in this case nearly doubling it again—with LIDAR mapped highways. High-precision LIDAR mapping gives us an operating domain where we are confident in Super Cruise’s abilities.”
LIDAR is essentially laser-based radar.
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Tesla drivers might be a little confused by the largest comment. Tesla driver assistance tech—called Enhanced AutoPilot and Full Self-Driving—works anywhere.
Those two products, however, aren’t hands-free. Drivers have to touch the steering wheel to show the system they’re paying attention.
Auto makers use a mix of interior cameras and/or haptic feedback to ensure compliance with the rules. Tesla uses both. GM relies on cameras, infrared LEDs, and seat sensors. The lightbar on the steering wheel also alerts drivers when they need to take back control. A Tesla’s warnings include lights and buzzers.
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Both systems enforce safety and both require drivers to pay attention and not game the systems. The camera decision does give GM the edge in calling its system hands-free, but Super Cruise and Tesla’s Enhanced Autopilot do similar things.
Tesla also doesn’t limit its driver assistance to a set number of roads. That’s another difference between the two auto makers. Its systems will tell a driver to take over if it can’t see things like road lines or if the weather is bad enough. For the most part, however, if a driver wants it on it can be on.
Tesla has a different, more aggressive, approach to self-driving technology deployment. The strategy is one reason Tesla’s technology is more heavily scrutinized than other auto makers.
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Elon Musk deserves credit for more scrutiny too. Musk talks about self-driving technology often, and believes Tesla is on the cusp of delivering technology that allows drivers to stop paying attention safely.
That is the holy grail for GM and Tesla, and any other auto maker. At that point, they can offer software subscriptions so drivers can take road trips while napping as well as operate fleets of robotaxis that take commuters anywhere for a taxi-like fee. Those kinds of technology and services, however, are still years away.
GM stock was up 2.7% Thursday, while the
was up 0.2%, the
was down 0.1.%, and the
was up 0.5%. Tesla stock was up about 2.3%.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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