​​Super Cruise Wins MotorTrend’s Best Hands-Free Tech Award​

For the past decade, there has been much discussion, predictions, claims, and even legislation regarding self-driving vehicles. It’ll still be a while until you can tell the car “Grandma’s house” and devote all your attention to social media while the vehicle navigates to Grandma’s driveway. But GM has developed a system that addresses monotonous driving across long stretches of open highway by letting you drive hands- and feet-free for much of the highway travel. GM calls it Super Cruise, and Valley GMC proudly announces that MotorTrend awarded Super Cruise as the best-advanced driver assistance system. 

A key feature of Super Cruise is that the vehicle doesn’t just figure everything out on-the-fly. GM maps out highways in advance, using precise LiDAR data that charts the number of lanes, entrance and exit locations, curvature, and any other relevant data. It stores it all in a database that the Super Cruise system accesses and comprehends.  

GM has mapped all the country’s interstates and has progressed to key highways. It has already surpassed 400,000 miles of mapped highway data in North America and aims to have over 750,000 miles mapped by the end of 2025. Thanks to sensors, cameras, lane-keeping, and adaptive cruise control systems in the vehicle, the system enables a driver to remove his or her hands from the wheel and feet from the pedals. At a set speed, the vehicle can safely pass other vehicles by changing lanes, overtaking them, and safely returning to the lane. The latter step is exclusive to Super Cruise. 

The system makes it clear when you are on a pre-mapped road through dash lights, and most noticeably, a green light along the top of the steering wheel. Even more impressive is that the system can work while towing, which MotorTend tested before stating that it works. There are certain conditions (hard rain or snow, detours, or construction) in which the system no longer considers it safe to operate. It is good about warning the driver to take back control through dash warning lights, turning the light on the steering wheel red, and even vibrating the driver seat.   

Its advanced mapping ability is not even MotorTrend’s favorite aspect of the system, as editors state: “First and foremost is how it interacts with the driver. ADAS requires drivers to always pay attention to the road, but GM’s engineers seem to understand it’s human nature to look around at the scenery or gaze down at the stereo.” The system essentially encourages you to focus ahead but remains unfazed when you briefly look elsewhere. 

MotorTrend’s criteria for its Best Tech awards include innovation, user experience, usefulness, value, and consideration for safety and privacy. In its words, “Super Cruise excels in all those criteria compared to any other ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) available today.” 

What matters most to MotorTrend is that the editors feel they can trust the system. When it comes to taking your hands off the wheel of a vehicle traveling down the highway at 65 mph or more, trust is everything. 

In the Auburn, Washington area, things are somewhat spread out, particularly to the north, east, and south. If you’re traveling in those directions, you may be on the road for a while, and having Super Cruise can make the journey much more relaxing. Super Cruise is available on the Denali versions of the Sierra 1500, Sierra EV, Yukon, and Yukon XL, as well as on the Acadia, Hummer EV Pickup and SUV. Visit Valley GMC to test drive a vehicle equipped with the award-winning Super Cruise system. It could make all the difference on your next road trip.