General Motors announced Sunday it plans to introduce Cadillac models in two years that incorporate hands-free driving and Wi-Fi-enabled vehicle-to-vehicle communications with similarly equipped vehicles, reports C/Net. GM brands, Chief Executive Mary Barra announced the initiative in a speech at the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress in Detroit on Sunday.
In May, Google unveiled a two-seater prototype vehicle that uses built-in sensors and a software system to safely maneuver the vehicle rather than a steering wheel and accelerator and brake pedals.
Google has been leading the charge in developing self-driving technology over the past couple of years, but several automobile manufacturers have also gotten into various aspects of the autonomous driving game, including Audi, Mercedes Benz, Ford, Nissan, Delphi, Toyota, and Tesla.
GM’s “Super Cruise” semi-automated technology will automatically keep a vehicle in a specific, properly equipped freeway lane, making necessary steering and speed adjustments in bumper-to-bumper traffic or long highway trips. The feature, which was unveiled in 2012, is expected to debut in a high-end Cadillac in 2016 on a 2017 model, and will eventually trickle down to other GM brands. It would likely use the 5.9 GHz band for Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC).
The Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) system would act as a natural complement to the active traffic management projects that are up and running in European countries like England, Germany, Greece and The Netherlands, according to Barra.
For example, the M4 and M5 Smart Motorways near Bristol, England now include things like variable speed limits, dynamic routing and lane markings, and improved traveler information systems.
GM is joining the University of Michigan and the state of Michigan to develop vehicle-to-infrastructure driving corridors on 120 miles of metro Detroit roadways. State officials said Ford is also part of the effort. If a driver in a V2V-equipped car brakes suddenly in heavy fog, for example, every other V2V-enabled car around it will know, MDOT notes.
When the new corridor goes on line, 9,000 V2V-equipped cars are expected to be on the road as part of the program.
The University of Michigan’s Mobility Transformation Center (MTC), a major public-private R&D initiative that aims to revolutionize the movement of people and goods in society the university announced Friday. Plans call for implementing a working system in Ann Arbor by 2021.
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