Cadillac Super Cruise Mini Review

I’ve tested Cadillac’s Super Cruise twice this year, and I had my first taste of Ford’s BlueCruise autonomous system last year.

As a journalist who covers the automotive industry, I have plenty of opinions about autonomous driving – mainly, I don’t believe we’ll see full Level 5 anytime soon. As a journalist who’s also been able to actually test AV systems, I have come to the conclusion that for now, at least, using an AV system leaves you with very mixed feelings. Especially if you’re a car enthusiast and not someone who merely uses your car as a means of conveyance.

Maybe that will change as we get more used to systems like Super Cruise, but for now, I walked away feeling a bit unnerved. Though I still think that limitations in the technology mean human drivers won’t be fully replaced anytime soon. More on that below.

To be clear, neither Super Cruise nor BlueCruise is a fully autonomous system. Let me reiterate that there is NO fully autonomous Level 5 system on the market today. The best you can get is Level 2, though some newer systems are flirting with Level 3.

Both Super Cruise and BlueCruise also only work on certain roads – roads that are mostly, if not exclusively, freeways.

This past weekend I took the Cadillac Escalade V-Series to my parent’s house for Mother’s Day. The trip is a little over 50 miles each way, with a good chunk being expressway. I’d have a chance to really test out Super Cruise – especially since my previous test, a month or two back, of the system in a CT4 was limited to a short run up and down Chicago’s famed DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

I’ll speak more about the system’s specifics when I review the V-Series, but in general, I found it to work really well, yet I was also on high alert in case the system needed me to take over at a second’s notice. I was on such high alert that it was actually more tiring than if I’d done the driving myself.

That might be a “me” problem more than a tech issue – maybe I just haven’t learned to trust this stuff yet. But I was keeping my hands near the wheel and my right foot hovering over the pedals. Even if I probably didn’t need to. That said, I did relax a bit as time went on.

Almost immediately after activating Super Cruise, which requires you to have already turned adaptive cruise control on, I encountered a traffic jam. I was ready to take over for the system but before I could I felt the Escalade slowing – and it came to a complete stop without any intervention from me. It accelerated and braked as appropriate during the stop-and-go slog. I was only tasked with taking over when a construction zone threw off the truck’s maps of the road.

Out of 56 miles or so of driving, I think about half were spent with the Escalade doing all the driving.

Super Cruise even automates lane changes. Flick the blinker, and it will change lanes for you. It will also change lanes on its own should it encounter a slowpoke that needs to be passed. This latter maneuver was a bit problematic – if the vehicle flashed an indicator of its intent in the dash, I missed it, and a couple of times I thought the system was making a mistake and manually took over when I didn’t need to.

That, again, may indicate that I am just not used to these systems enough to trust them. A prime example occurred on my return trip – road construction meant the lanes were shifted. I was in the left-most lane, and there were construction barrels between the wall and the lane, and the Escalade seemed like it wasn’t going to follow the lanes and I’d be center-punching one of said barrels. So I grabbed the wheel, flicked it, and then reset the system. Only later did I realize that the ‘Slade probably would’ve turned but it would’ve waited a split-second longer than I did. After all, the SC lights were green, indicating it was working fine. It would’ve turned red if it needed me to take over.

Of course, I may have taken more risk if the car was mine – I didn’t want to wreck an expensive Escalade that I don’t own because I put too much faith in Super Cruise. Imagine explaining that one: “Yeah I saw the barrels and the lane shift, but I’m testing Super Cruise and needed to see if it worked.”

I experienced a similar situation a few miles down the road – a crash had shut the left lane and brought out some fire trucks. As the cars in front of me shifted lanes to the right, Super Cruise kept the Escalade pointed straight, and it even started to accelerate to the set cruise speed when the lane cleared. I don’t know if the system didn’t “see” the fire trucks or was confused by the flashing lights. I don’t know if the truck would’ve slowed and changed lanes when it got closer to the fire trucks. I didn’t risk finding out the hard way – I took over and manually maneuvered it around the scene.

Again, was that a lack of trust on my part or a system failure? I don’t know and didn’t want to find out. Once again, imagine explaining that one – in this case, to the first responders: “I saw you and the lights, but I really needed to see if Super Cruise would navigate around you. For the sake of journalism.”

Super Cruise does monitor you, the driver, to make sure your eyes are on the road and you’re ready to take over. I found its monitoring to be inconsistent – one time, a quick glance at a billboard was enough to get the system to alert me to get my eyes back on the road. Another time, a longer look off to the side didn’t trigger anything and the Caddy trundled along blissfully under Super Cruise’s control.

I’ll close this with one final note – you become extra aware of drivers who cut you off when you’re hovering over the controls, ready to take over. Fortunately, the system always seemed to adjust to some asshole squeezing into a too-tight gap and either slowed the ‘Slade and/or changed lanes.

I don’t know how much I’d rely on Super Cruise or BlueCruise if I owned a vehicle so equipped. I did, after a while, start relaxing and trusting the system more. I wouldn’t recommend playing with your phone or becoming otherwise distracted – it’s still not safe, and things can happen fast at 70 mph – but I can see why someone would be tempted. Especially once you start to feel comfortable with the system.

I am not yet convinced you’ll be giving up your driver’s license and buying a car that can drive you everywhere anytime soon. We’ve seen too many issues with Tesla’s misleadingly named Full-Self Driving system, and Super Cruise and BlueCruise remain limited to certain roads. Those latter two systems also still occasionally get flummoxed – or at least seem to react more slowly than I feel comfortable with.

But autonomous driving will be a larger part of your driving experience going forward, especially if you have luxury car money. I’d recommend keeping perspective – it can be a useful tool that makes freeway driving a little easier, but never forget that you’re in charge and must be ready to take over.

Or just get yourself a 20-year-old Miata and do all the driving yourself. That might be the cure for any AV-induced confusion.

[Images: Cadillac]

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