At the 21st annual Intelligent Transport System (ITS) World Congress in Detroit, General Motors CEO Mary Barra has dropped a very interesting bit of info that gives us a hint about the Cadillac brand's plans for the near future. Certain 2017 model year cars will offer advanced 'intelligent and connected' technologies.
According to GM's CEO, the luxury marque will debut a new model, which we believe to be that heavily anticipated flagship model our spy photographers spotted a handful of times already, with a very curious piece of new technology. Internally known as the "01SL" and baptized LTS by the media, this new Cadillac will be bigger than the XTS and a whole lot more luxurious. Global product chief Mark Reuss declared that the LTS flagship "will define its brand in terms of innovation and excellence."
With Barra's recent announcement, we know what kind of innovation is in store for the future Caddy. Dubbed Super Cruise, this is the moniker given by General Motors to its new automated driving technology. Super Cruise will offer users a type of driving experience that includes hands-off lane following, braking and speed control in certain highway driving conditions. Yup, that's what we'd call autonomous driving. General Motors says that the system is designed to increase the comfort of an attentive driver on freeways both in bumper-to-bumper traffic and on long, high-speed road trips.
The second big piece of auto tech news is that the 2017 Cadillac CTS will benefit from V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) communication technology. V2V could mitigate many traffic collisions, but also improve traffic congestion by sending and receiving basic safety information such as the vehicle's location, speed and direction of travel between other cars that are approaching each other. Furthermore, it will warn drivers, but will also supplement active safety features such as the already available forward collision warning.
“Advancing technology so that people can more safely live their lives is a responsibility we embrace. A tide of innovation has invigorated the global auto industry, and we're taking these giant leaps forward to remain a leader of new technology.We are not doing this for the sake of the technology itself. We’re doing it because it’s what customers around the world want. Through technology and innovation, we will make driving safer,” said Barra.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News