Cadillac Just Happened to Film Its New Commercial with a Tesla and LEAF Around

There a few reasons for that, and one of them isn't exactly the kind the company would like to remember. We're talking, of course, about Joshua Brown's unfortunate accident in which he lost his life close to two years ago. It was definitely not the publicity Tesla had wanted for its advanced driver's aid suite, but it probably brought the "Autopilot" name to a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't have heard of it.

And speaking of the name, that's one other great thing Tesla did. Branding is everything. Look at the competition and try to remember what their equivalent systems are called. You may know one or two, but none is so straightforward as "Autopilot." You can understand why Tesla refused to change it after the media and a few organizations said it was misleading and could encourage other drivers to follow Mr. Brown's example.

Cadillac calls its equivalent version "Super Cruise," and it has just started advertising it. The Super Cruise is similar to Tesla's Autopilot, with some drawbacks and advantages. For example, GM's version will only work on the highway, whereas Tesla's Autopilot will work in almost any situation as long as the system deems it safe.

However, when the Super Cruise is activated, it makes the "first hands-free driving system for the freeway" claim pretty legit since it doesn't prompt the driver to grab the wheel as often as Tesla's suite does (also a repercussion of that fatal accident).

The 15-second clip starts with a few shots of the Cadillac CT6 before "bring us doubt" pops up on the screen on a blank white canvas. Then we see GM's sedan driving in the middle lane with two cars flanking it at a considerable distance behind - a Tesla Model S and a Nissan LEAF. The white screen shows up again, only this time it delivers the punchline: "and we'll bring you the future."

The CT6 is a nice looking car, but that Tesla Model S with its curvy sexiness that could have someone mistake it for a Maserati is definitely the better looker between the two. Perhaps that's why Tesla doesn't advertise: it doesn't need to since other carmakers will do it instead, free of charge.

From GM's point of view, though, this is a double-blow. It hits both at Tesla and its Autopilot, but also at EVs in general. Sure, the Nissan LEAF is also the first model from the Japanese manufacturer to sport an upgraded version of the ProPILOT advanced cruise control system, but we somehow get the feeling Cadillac is trying to belittle the importance of electric propulsion as well. Well, at least until it falls into line and starts producing EVs.