GM's Ambitious AI-Driven Future: Eyes-Off Driving and Advanced Vehicle Intelligence

AI and hands-free driving are coming to GM's vehicles

General Motors held a preview event today to show the world what it's working on. We've already seen some projects, like the further development of lithium manganese-rich battery technology or backup power for EVs that can power a home or support the power grid. The most significant new announcement is that Cadillac will offer an Escalade IQ with a so-called "Level 3" conditional automated driving system in 2028. GM is referring to it as a "hands off, eyes off" system and says it will integrate advanced digital mapping, use of lidar and other systems, and advanced machine learning to handle the driving duties in a controlled environment up to 80 mph (129 km/h). This means you can theoretically watch a movie from the driver's seat while your car takes you down the highway to the airport. Over time, the system's operation areas will expand to cover even more roads, making driving unnecessary in many situations -- unless, of course, you like to drive. "We're taking a safety-first approach," CEO Mary Barra said to an audience of journalists at an event in New York City. "You'll see us roll out much, much faster than what we did with Super Cruise." So while the system will be limited to the Escalade at first, GM has made it clear that it wants to spread the system across its lineup. Barra even had the assembled journalists imagine a world in which your car anticipates your needs, takes you where you want to go, and services itself during downtime. Compared to Mercedes-Benz's current offering, the advanced level 3 Super Cruise will work at a higher speed, and the team emphasized that the goal is for the system to work in all 50 states and in all weather conditions. Am I skeptical? Yes. But the company has a new liquid-cooled compute module to help handle the demands of a more advanced system. This would be the most advanced driver assistance system available to consumers in the US, and the company learned a lot through its now-shuttered Cruise autonomous vehicle program. More AI This new vehicle computer will allow GM to integrate more AI functionality into the vehicle. GM believes that incorporating Google Gemini (and eventually its own system) will help drivers better interact with a vehicle and its functions through natural language processing. I asked Dave Richardson, GM's SVP of software, how the company will avoid the enshittification of vehicles as it integrates more AI. "There's a lot of hype around AI right now," he told me. "But there's also practical use. I've been trying to focus the company on practical use cases. I think there's a lot of pretty compelling things we can do to try to add real value." He gave some examples, such as a car knowing you have a meeting and setting the navigation appropriately or knowing that you're going on a road trip, so it should queue up the appropriate media for your kids to stream in the back seat. While the company is using Gemini at first, it eventually plans to have its own model on board. "With advanced processing in the car, we can handle interference on board so that it works in low-data-connection areas," Richardson said. Ultimately, GM will deploy its own LLM that knows about the car and is limited in overall parameters, Richardson told me. It won't need to rely on the cloud to operate, increasing responsiveness in the car and keeping personal information with you, he said. There are reasons to be skeptical, of course. One of my biggest concerns is how much driver data the car will collect. One reason GM doesn't offer Android Auto or Apple Car Play, the company has said, is that it wants to protect customer data. The owner must consent to any data sharing, GM said. And although GM says it has made some internal changes to protect customer data, there have been some very public instances of the company selling data. "Data privacy and security is priority one for us," Richardson told me about his work at GM. He said he has hired people specifically tasked with ensuring that customer data protection frameworks are in place. "We have no interest in selling that data to third parties. When we think about data, whether it's for Super Cruise or the AI, it's really for us to develop the product and make it better. We don't want to sell that data as the product itself," he said. I believe there's space for a privacy-focused automaker, and while I'm not sure whether that will be GM, I hope that privacy and data protection are as important to the company in the future as it says it is today. As for consumers wanting AI in their vehicles? GM thinks they do.

GM to introduce eyes-off, hands-off driving system in 2028 | TechCrunch

General Motors said it plans to launch an automated driving system that will allow drivers to keep their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel in 2028, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ. The announcement, made Wednesday at its GM Forward event in New York City, comes a year after TechCrunch first reported that the automaker was working on the system. GM said its hands-off advanced driver assistance system, known as Super Cruise, is the foundation of this future, more capable product. Super Cruise, which launched in 2017 and is now available in 23 vehicle models, can be used on about 600,000 miles of highway. This new eyes-off, hands-off driver assistance system -- which will use lidar, radar, and cameras for perception -- will also start on highways. GM CEO Mary Barra noted during the event that GM would roll out its eyes-off product faster than it did its hands-off Super Cruise ADAS. The automaker said it has tapped the experience of engineers who worked at its now shuttered autonomous vehicle technology subsidiary Cruise to improve the capabilities of that system. When GM shut down Cruise, its commercial robotaxi business, in December 2024, it absorbed the subsidiary and combined it with its own efforts to develop driver assistance features. Over the last year, GM has also rehired several Cruise engineers as it pursues its goal of developing fully autonomous personal vehicles. GM said it is also feeding Cruise's technology stack, which includes AI models trained on five million driverless miles and a simulation framework running virtual test scenarios, into its next-generation driver-assistance and autonomy programs. "Robotaxi as a proof of concept when you start makes a lot of sense," Sterling Anderson, GM's executive vice president of global product and former co-founder of AV startup Aurora Innovation, said during the event, adding that the high cost of sensors and compute on autonomous vehicles required high utilization of those vehicles. "We're now in a position in 2025 where the industry broadly has brought down the cost tremendously of some of the hardware," Anderson said. "And GM, uniquely, has the install base, the manufacturing capacity to put these out at much larger volumes and much lower costs. Had the industry had low-cost systems and a huge install base and manufacturing capacity to begin with, we probably all would have gone for personal autonomous vehicles to begin with." In the U.S., Mercedes is currently the only automaker with a commercially available hands-off, eyes-off system. Such systems would fall under the SAE's Level 3 of automation, which refers to an automated system that can drive itself under certain conditions but might still require a human to take over. Mercedes's Drive Pilot is only available on certain mapped highways in California and Nevada, and only functions in heavy, low-speed traffic. GM's eyes-off product will work on highways that GM hasn't mapped, according to Baris Cetinok, GM's senior vice president of software and services. He added that the system will only require human takeover for things like off-ramps, and can handle emergencies and sudden incidents. "Human intervention should not be the escape hatch for sudden incidents," Cetinok said. Getting to market with an eyes-off, hands-off driving system would put GM ahead of most other automakers, unless they get there first. Earlier this year, Stellantis unveiled its own Level 3 system, but it has put the launch on hold. Tesla has been gunning to "solve full self-driving" by relying only on its cars' cameras and neural networks for years, even though its Autopilot and FSD systems still require the driver to keep their eyes on the road.

General Motors' 'Eyes-Off' System Begs the Question: What Happens When Cars Go AI?

General Motors is launching another salvo in the self-driving wars. In 2028, the automaker announced today, it will roll out what it's calling an "eyes-off" driving system on the electric Cadillac Escalade IQ. In practice, this means a driver navigating approved, mapped highways will be able to do basically anything they want behind the wheel. Snack, answer emails, catch up with their shows, turn around to yell at the kids in the back. Even sleep, maybe -- provided that they wake up by the time they've reached the exit ramp. (If they don't, the car will find a safe place to pull over, GM says.) The new system marks a collaboration between the team responsible for General Motors' eight-year-old Super Cruise, an advanced driver-assistance system that the automaker today described as "hands-free" on some highways, and Cruise, a robotaxi subsidiary that once competed with Waymo before GM cut off its funding in 2024. It could also put the Detroit automaker in contention with other automakers -- Toyota and Tesla among them -- who are trying to bring some version of self-driving systems to drivers' personally owned cars. Unlike Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system, which depends on cameras alone to make decisions, GM's new "eyes-off" feature will use lidar, radar, and cameras. It will make it clear when the driver is expected to pay attention again through a mix of haptic, audible, and visual alerts, says Sterling Anderson, the executive vice president of global product and chief product officer at GM. (He was a cofounder of the self-driving trucking firm Aurora, and played a key role in building Tesla's Autopilot driver assistance system.) "If the last couple of decades have taught us anything, it's that you can't expect an inattentive driver to be prepared to take over at a moment's notice. You simply can't," he says. The "eyes-off" system announcement was one of a suite of AI-adjacent revelations from GM on Wednesday, the latest sign that automakers are poised to compete on who can best fit the buzzy tech onto wheels. Next year, GM says, its vehicles will come with a Google Gemini chatbot integration that should be able to help drivers more naturally request that their car help them, for example, navigate to a coffee shop near work. At some point in the future, GM says, it will introduce a custom-built AI that will retain drivers' personal preferences -- their favorite driving music, temperature, or mirror position, perhaps -- and might, for example, warn them when their car needs maintenance. All this will be enabled by a new centralized computing platform, also debuting in 2028.

Cadillac Escalade IQ Getting Lidar-Powered, Eyes-Off Highway Cruising in 2028

Super Cruise drivers have logged 700 million miles of hands-free driving since 2017. General Motors on Wednesday announced a cutting-edge upgrade to its inbound highway driver-assistance technology. In 2028, GM will add eyes-off highway driving to its bag of tricks, starting with the full-electric Escalade IQ SUV. GM's current Super Cruise system has been my favorite highway driving assistance tech for years now. The system uses a combination of radar sensors, camera and GPS to enable hands-free driving assistance on select highways that have been lidar-mapped with high-resolution data. Super Cruise requires the driver to be attentive, watching the road and prepared to take over when the unexpected happens and uses a driver-facing camera to ensure this requirement is met. The next-generation technology announced today will remove that requirement. To make this leap, the automaker will begin by adding a lidar sensor to the roof of its Cadillac Escalade IQ electric SUV. (The position at the top of the windshield is similar to that of Volvo's EX90 SUV.) GM says that the redundancy of lidar, radar and cameras provides a huge advantage where reliability and capability are concerned -- throwing a bit of shade at vision-only systems like the one used by one of its more prominent rivals. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source. GM also believes that sticking to predictable highway conditions rather than prematurely tackling chaotic surface roads is the key to its impressive safety record. According to the automaker, Super Cruise drivers have logged around 700 million miles of hands-free driving in the eight years since the feature's introduction without a single crash attributed to the system. The Escalade IQ will illuminate the dashboard with turquoise lighting to let the driver know when they can take their eyes off the road to "sit back, read, or catch up on messages while the vehicle handles the drive." Turquoise lights in the exterior mirrors will also let other drivers know that the vehicle is operating autonomously. Currently, Super Cruise uses a combination of blue and green lights on the steering wheel to communicate the system's status to the driver. Underpinning GM's yet-unnamed eyes-off system will be a new and more powerful centralized computing platform that will also debut on the Escalade IQ in 2028. The new digital backbone will be fully integrated into every vehicle system, boast 1,000 times more bandwidth to process all of the data it'll have to ingest and "up to 35 times more AI performance for autonomy and advanced features." GM says the system will be capable of learning and continuously improving long after the vehicle leaves the showroom floor and will have 10 times more capacity to receive over-the-air software updates.

Eyes Off! GM Promises to Solve My Least Favorite Thing About Its Self-Driving Tech

Emily is an experienced reporter who covers cutting-edge tech, from AI and EVs to brain implants. She stays grounded by hiking and playing guitar. Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. GM today teased a major improvement coming to its Super Cruise self-driving tech by 2028. Starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ, drivers will be able to take their eyes off the road while the car drives itself on eligible highways. Turquoise lighting across the dashboard and exterior mirrors will be the "visual cue that it's safe to sit back, read, or catch up on messages while the vehicle handles the drive," GM says. The exterior lights will also give other drivers on the road a heads-up, a concept Mercedes introduced in 2023. "We selected blue to create clear visual differentiation from other vehicle alerts and driving modes," a GM spokesperson tells us. "Blue doesn't overlap with existing warning systems and provides an intuitive signal that the vehicle is in a distinct autonomous driving state." This will be a major quality-of-life improvement for drivers, especially road trippers and commuters, assuming the tech advances to the point where it's safe. When I tested GM's Super Cruise and Ford's Blue Cruise last year, the need to look at the road kept me on edge and made it difficult to fully relax. Both track your retinas, and if you read a text for too long, they will angrily beep at you to look back at the road. It's necessary for safety, but made me wonder if I'd rather just be driving myself. GM takes a subtle jab at Tesla in its announcement, which insists its cameras-only self-driving platform is superior. "Unlike vision-only systems, GM's approach is built on redundancy with LiDAR, radar, and cameras integrated into the vehicle's design," the company says. "This provides a safe, reliable, and highly capable eyes-off autonomous system." GM also owns the tech behind the now-defunct Cruise robotaxi brand, which would have been a competitor to Tesla's robotaxis had an unfortunate accident not taken them off the road in 2023. This new and improved self-driving technology will run on a revamped, centralized computing platform, also set to launch in 2028. It "represents a fundamental reimagining of how GM vehicles are built" and promises to bring "dramatic change," GM says. It will power both gas and electric vehicles, aiming to consolidate "dozens" of independent control units into a "unified computing core." This will improve vehicle connectivity and "responsiveness to remote commands," GM says. It will also improve the rate of over-the-air software updates, delivering 10 times the new features as the previous system. For self-driving, the new computing platform will deliver real-time safety updates, react in milliseconds, and evolve with each autonomous update, GM says. That constant learning is crucial to improving the system over time, as well as in real-time. The system also promises "1,000 times more bandwidth for faster connectivity, richer entertainment, and future AI." Starting in 2026, GM will also introduce a conversational AI system into its vehicles, powered by Google Gemini. The idea is that you can "talk to your car as naturally as you would a fellow passenger," GM says. (Just don't fall in love.) In the future, the company will introduce its own, custom-built AI system, fine-tuned specifically for the vehicle, which can perform tasks such as answering questions about the vehicle.

GM plans to launch eyes-off driving, Google AI and other new in-vehicle tech by 2028

NEW YORK -- General Motors is targeting a suite of new software initiatives for its vehicles over the next three years, including an in-vehicle artificial intelligence assistant from Google and a driver-assistance system that can largely control the vehicle without human interaction or monitoring. GM said the conversational Google Gemini AI will begin launching in its vehicles next year, followed by the new driver-assistance system, which will allow drivers to be hands-free and take their eyes off the road under certain circumstances, in 2028. GM CEO Mary Barra and other executives made the announcements Wednesday as part of a "GM Forward" software event that also showcased other initiatives designed to "transform the car from a mode of transportation into an intelligent assistant," the automaker said. The company also announced that it is working on a new centralized computing platform, which is planned to roll out starting with the Escalade IQ in 2028; increased use of collaborative robots, also known as cobots, that can work alongside humans; and expanding availability of products from its GM Energy business.

GM Unveils Electric SUV With 'Eyes-Off' Driving

The auto giant GM announced today that it is reinvigorating its fleet with a series of new artificial intelligence and machine learning features, all expected to be rolled out within the next three years. From a new centralized computing platform to equip all of its cars to in-vehicle conversational AI chatbots customized to your needs and preferences, GM is preparing for what it believes to be a coming AI-driven auto industry. GM's buzziest feature, which will debut in 2028, is reserved, at least so far, for an electric vehicle offering. In three years, drivers of the Cadillac Escalade IQ electric SUV will be able to drive completely autonomously, not just with their hands off but also with their eyes off the road, the company claims. As long as the car is on mapped highways, you can read, text, or do whatever you want behind the wheel as the car drives you to your location, GM said. A turquoise light will flash across the dashboard and the side mirrors to signal when a car is in eyes-off driving mode. The system is equipped with lidar, radar, and cameras to build perception, while real-world driving data trains the decision-making model. "Our goal is to bring to market the most trusted and scalable eyes-off driving technology on the path to personal autonomy," GM said in a press release. The revamp announcement comes as the American electric vehicle industry stands at the precipice of a giant sales drop. Since the electric vehicle tax credit expired on October 1st, electric vehicle prices in the U.S. have become even more expensive, and demand is dropping as automakers scale back EV production. GM announced that it will be taking a $1.6 billion hit this quarter, stemming from a drop in the value of its EV plants and equipment, and supplier contract cancellation costs. GM has become one of the leaders of the American EV industry, and despite scaling back production of some of its electric vehicles, company executives insist, as recently as during yesterday's earnings call, that electric vehicles are still the company's north star. The company has made a significant commitment to completely electrify its fleet by 2035. During the earnings call, GM executives forecasted that EV demand will continue to suffer into early 2026 before it levels off and finds its natural state. Once demand hits its natural stride, GM executives are confident their "quality and the range of vehicles" will bode well for sales in their EV division. Buzzy features like full autonomous driving could help drive sales of some of GM's electric offerings. Tesla is also ramping up efforts to scale its full self-driving technology, despite federal investigations, lawsuits, recalls, and fatal crashes miring its autonomous driving efforts. GM's chief product officer, Sterling Anderson, who recently joined the company, is a former Tesla executive who led the team that worked on Tesla Autopilot. GM has significant experience with autonomous driving, as the automaker was the first to offer rudimentary hands-free driving with Super Cruise in 2017. But it has also had its fair share of experience with the risks of autonomous vehicles. The company had to shut down its robotaxi division, Cruise, on the heels of an external probe into the company for lying to regulators about an incident in which one of its robotaxis struck a pedestrian and dragged them 20 feet. The automaker has since refocused its energy completely on Super Cruise, its autonomous driving technology for personal vehicles that is currently in use for 23 GM models. That technology is making up the foundation of the newly revealed feature as well. Among the other announcements on Wednesday was an in-vehicle Google Gemini AI chatbot to debut next year, allowing drivers to have conversations with their cars. It's the first phase of a grander plan to introduce a custom-built AI for GM vehicles, one that would be fine-tuned to your car's inner workings and your own personal preferences. The custom-built AI, which currently has no timeline except for a vague "in the future," would know your food preferences to recommend a dinner spot en route to your destination and alert you about potential maintenance issues in the car. "Together, these advancements mark a turning point: AI that drives for you when you want it to, talks with you when you need it to, and gets smarter every day," the company said.

GM teases plans for "eyes-off" self-driving car system

Why it matters: No major automaker has yet commercialized self-driving car technology that legally allows car owners to travel from place to place in their vehicle without keeping their eyes on the road. * "It's more than just a vehicle," GM CEO Mary Barra said at a press event. "It makes your life easier, more streamlined, and, more importantly, safer." Driving the news: The system will debut on the Cadillac Escalade IQ electric SUV, starting with highway driving and eventually transitioning to include urban roads. * "This allows you to do something else at that time, connect with others, catch up on work, your favorite TV show," GM chief product officer Sterling Anderson told Axios in an interview. What they did: GM customers have already driven 700 million miles using the company's current Super Cruise system, which drives the vehicle under certain conditions while using eye-tracking technology to ensure the operator is still paying attention to the road. * The new "eyes-off" system builds off of Super Cruise's learnings, as well as the advancements made by the Cruise driverless car division that GM shuttered in late 2024. State of play: Unlike GM's planned offering, Tesla's "full self-driving" (FSD) system drives the vehicle in many environments, but requires drivers to keep their eyes on the road. * Waymo provides driverless rides in several major cities, but does not sell vehicles to the public. How it works: GM's eyes-off system will use a mix of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), radar and cameras. * That contrasts with Tesla's FSD, which uses only cameras. CEO Elon Musk says the transportation network was built for humans who drive only with their eyes, and thus self-driving cars should work the same way. * GM's Anderson -- who helped develop Tesla Autopilot and the Tesla Model X before cofounding autonomous trucking firm Aurora -- said he disagrees with his former boss: "What I told him then, and what I'll remind him now, is humans have ears, noses, tongues, touch," Anderson tells Axios. * "The evolutionary analog doesn't work here," he added. "Why do we have multiple modes? And why have we somehow managed to fuse them? And you don't think you can fuse LiDAR, radar and camera?" The big question: What will it cost? * GM executives declined to say, but the current Super Cruise system requires a monthly subscription of about $40. GM also announced plans to launch a "conversational AI" system in its vehicles, using Google's Gemini platform. * The system will "enable a more natural conversation" between driver and the vehicle, said David Richardson, SVP of software and services engineering. * "It's practical AI that makes your life better," he said at a press event. * GM plans to eventually introduce its own AI system capable of providing services such as proactively identifying maintenance issues or identifying dinner options. * The company is also rolling out a "new centralized computing platform" beginning with the Escalade IQ that will operate all the systems in the vehicle. It will increase the company's ability to send wireless updates to its vehicles 10-fold and enable its vehicles to add more AI features in the future. The big picture: The announcement comes a day after GM's stock soared, following a strong earnings report that signaled the company expects a far lower tariff bill than previously expected. * The automaker raised its full-year outlook for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to a range of $12 billion to $13 billion, up from a previous range of $10 billion to $12.5 billion. What to watch: As GM seeks manufacturing efficiencies, the company plans to roll out collaborative robots, or cobots, in its factories, Anderson said.

GM unveils plans for 'eyes-off' vehicle in 2028

General Motors announced plans Wednesday to incorporate Google's Gemini artificial intelligence platform into vehicles and to launch a vehicle capable of "eyes-off" driving in 2028. At an event dubbed "GM Forward," the giant US automaker said Gemini would enable drivers to "talk to your car as naturally as you would to a fellow passenger," while the Cadillac Escalade would be capable of "eyes-off driving" in three years. GM said it had already mapped 600,000 miles of "hands-free" roads in North America for its "Super Cruise" technology, which requires an attentive driver, "without a single reported crash attributed to the system." Now it is promising to add eyes-off to hands-free. "This combination of technology, scale, a decade of real-world deployment experience, and safety systems developed and tested for Super Cruise gives us the foundation to deliver the phase of personal autonomy," GM said. The Escalade, an electric sport utility vehicle, will also feature a computing platform that updates every major system in the vehicle, from propulsion and steering to infotainment and safety. On Tuesday, GM shares surged nearly 15% after it lifted some full-year projections following better-than-expected third-quarter results. Shares of GM rose 0.5% in morning trading on Wednesday.

The era of "eyes-off" driving is coming -- and GM wants to lead it

GM just offered a glimpse into an AI-powered future in which drivers read a book or answer texts while their car whisks them to their destination. The company announced its plans to introduce a suite of advanced software systems into its vehicles on Wednesday, bringing the traditional auto maker up to speed on in-vehicle tech. At its GM Forward media event in New York, GM outlined its near-term plans for reimagining cars as "intelligent assistants" that drive their owners around. The company announced a major update to its driving assistance system that would bring hands-free, "eyes-off" highway driving to vehicles, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. The technology will rely on integrated lidar, radar and cameras and a new internal and external turquoise lighting system to signal that the self-driving tech is active. The new eyes-off driving technology will push beyond the limits of GM's existing "Super Cruise," system, which offers hands-free highway driving but requires a driver's attention. Next year, GM also plans to add Google's Gemini AI into its vehicles, "making it possible to talk to your car as naturally as you would to a fellow passenger." Down the road, GM plans to introduce its own AI assistant tied into OnStar, its subscription service that offers safety, security and navigation features. The company says its future custom AI could be useful for "explaining one-pedal driving in your new vehicle, spotting a maintenance issue early, or finding the perfect place for dinner."

The Cadillac Escalade IQ will be GM's first vehicle with eyes-off driving

GM vehicles will soon offer eyes-off driving, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ. The company introduced two new AI advancements that GM says won't just move you, but adapt and improve over time. Starting in 2028, GM will introduce eyes-off driving on highways. The feature will debut on the Cadillac Escalade IQ before rolling out to other GM vehicles. GM announced two new AI advancements that will serve as the foundation for its next-gen intelligent vehicles: eyes-off driving and conversational AI. Both will run on a new centralized computing platform that controls the vehicle's propulsion, steering, braking, infotainment, and safety features through a "high-speed Ethernet backbone." According to GM, the platform delivers 35 times more AI performance and 1,000 times more bandwidth than its previous systems. Since its launch in 2017, GM said that Super Cruise has proven that advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) can scale safely. Super Cruise, which is now offered on 23 GM vehicles, has already enabled over 700 million hands-free miles without a single crash. The eyes-off system will combine Super Cruise with GM's Cruise Technology Stack. Unlike vision-only systems, GM will use LiDAR, radars, and cameras that will be integrated directly into the vehicle's design. GM's setup is based on sensor fusion, which combines information from the various sensors to create a detailed view of the vehicle's surroundings and what's on the road ahead. The result, according to GM, is "a vehicle designed to handle the drive when you want it to, with the safety and precision you expect from its vehicles." That's not all. Starting next year, GM vehicles will feature conversational AI, powered by Google Gemini. The service delivers a more human-like experience. Drivers will be able to create and send messages, plan trips, and more. Looking ahead, GM plans to introduce its own custom-built AI, which the company said will be more personalized with new capabilities. GM is among several automakers planning to launch eyes-off over the next few years, including Rivian, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Stellantis, and others.

GM embraces AI with plans to use 'eyes-off' driving, other high-tech...

General Motors is positioning itself to take a leading role in the AI evolution with a suite of upgrades from anticipating a driver's needs to driving for them. The automaker, which sells vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick brands, plans to equip its vehicles with conversational AI powered by Google Gemini next year ahead of GM's launch of its own custom-built AI. With the conversational AI, drivers will be able to draft and send messages and plan routes with context, such as finding a charging stop near a favorite coffee shop or even prep for a meeting on the go, the automaker said. Starting in 2026, enhancements will be rolled out through a software update to OnStar-equipped vehicles starting with model year 2015. That's just one step in its broader plan to build "cars that don't just move you but anticipate then adapt to your needs and improve over time." The automaker is already drawing up plans to build out its own custom-built AI that will be fine-tuned to each vehicle's intelligence and the driver's personal preferences. The automaker didn't specify when its custom-built AI will be available. It will run on GM's next-generation centralized computing platform, which won't debut until 2028. Its AI platform, Integrated through OnStar, will connect to the vehicle's onboard intelligence to deliver vehicle-specific insights such as upcoming maintenance alerts and optimized route planning. It will also explain car features like one-pedal driving and even recommending a dinner spot based on a driver's past preferences and routes. There will also be privacy controls that let drivers determine what they share and how tailored their experience should be, according to GM. The company also plans to introduce "eyes-off driving" in 2028, debuting on the Cadillac Escalade IQ for highway use. GM says the vehicle is "designed to handle the drive when you want it to," marking another step toward its vision of personal autonomy in driving. It's a step up from the hands-free driving currently available with Super Cruise. The turquoise lighting across the dashboard and exterior mirrors on the vehicle will signal when the system is active. "Unlike vision-only systems, GM's approach is built on redundancy with LiDAR, which provides a high-resolution 3D map of the vehicle's environment, radar and cameras integrated into the vehicle's design," GM said. Since its debut in 2017, Super Cruise has expanded to 23 vehicle models, enabling more than 700 million hands-free miles with zero reported crashes attributed to the system.

GM Announces Eyes-Off Driving, Conversational AI, and Unified Software Platform

At its GM Forward media event in New York, General Motors showcased how manufacturing scale, software expertise, and AI are converging to transform the car from a mode of transportation into an intelligent assistant. One of the most significant steps toward that future is autonomy. GM announced plans to bring eyes-off driving to market in 2028, debuting on the Cadillac ESCALADE IQ electric SUV. GM has already mapped 600,000 miles of hands-free roads in North America, and customers have driven 700 million miles with Super Cruise without a single reported crash attributed to the system. Additionally, the technology and validation frameworks from Cruise add more than five million fully driverless miles of experience. This combination of technology, scale, a decade of real-world deployment experience, and safety systems developed and tested for Super Cruise gives us the foundation to deliver the next phase of personal autonomy. Beginning next year, GM vehicles will feature conversational AI with Google Gemini, making it possible to talk to your car as naturally as you would to a fellow passenger. In the future, GM will introduce its own AI, custom-built for your vehicle. With your permission, it will be fine-tuned with your vehicle?s intelligence and your personal preferences, all connected by OnStar. This could include explaining one-pedal driving in your new vehicle, spotting a maintenance issue early, or finding the perfect place for dinner en route to your destination. eginning next year, GM vehicles will feature conversational AI with Google Gemini, making it possible to talk to your car as naturally as you would to a fellow passenger. In the future, GM will introduce its own AI, custom-built for your vehicle. With your permission, it will be fine-tuned with your vehicle?s intelligence and your personal preferences, all connected by OnStar. This could include explaining one-pedal driving in your new vehicle, spotting a maintenance issue early, or finding the perfect place for dinner en route to your destination. GM shared progress on how it?s scaling its robotics work at the Autonomous Robotics Center (ARC) in Warren, Michigan, and a sister lab in Mountain View, California. More than 100 roboticists, AI engineers, and hardware specialists are building advanced robotics systems trained on decades of GM production data, such as telemetry, quality metrics, and sensor feeds from thousands of robots, to create AI that learns and improves with every manufacturing cycle. ARC is also developing software and manipulation components for collaborative robots, or ?cobots,? which GM is deploying in its U.S. assembly plants this year. This creates an adaptive and efficient manufacturing environment where intelligent machines improve safety and workplace quality.