The Cadillac Escalade IQ will feature Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities in 2028

General Motors shut down its Cruise robotaxi division last year, after pouring billions into that project. That enormous investment was not made in vain, however, as the American company decided to make use of all the knowledge it had accumulated up to that point to advance autonomous driving in its own mass-produced vehicles intended for the general public.

As a result of that decision, General Motors has now announced the upcoming availability of a new Level 3 autonomous driving system that will allow the driver to take their eyes and hands off the steering wheel, no longer having to pay full attention to the road for a temporary period. This system will debut in 2028 on the Cadillac Escalade IQ, the large electric SUV from General Motors’ luxury brand, and will later be extended to other vehicles from any of the American company’s brands.

Today, in the United States, only Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Pilot system allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel and their eyes off the road. However, this is only possible under very specific conditions and with significant limitations. General Motors currently offers the Super Cruise system in its vehicles, which can be classified as Level 2. That is, the vehicle can steer through curves and control speed, but the driver must maintain constant attention on the road, also placing their hands on the steering wheel at regular intervals.

What exactly is a Level 3 autonomous driving system?

Classifying an autonomous driving system as Level 3 means the driver can completely disengage from driving, although they must be ready to take back control within a short period of time. This means they can, for example, look at their phone or read a book, but they cannot fall asleep, since in that case they would not be able to take over the vehicle quickly. For that, a Level 4 autonomous driving system would be required.

In the case of Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Pilot system, the driver has a maximum of 10 seconds to regain control of the vehicle after a warning, and if they do not, the vehicle performs an emergency stop. General Motors’ future autonomous driving system, debuting in 2028, should be similar. The Escalade IQ that will introduce this new system features two electric motors delivering a combined output of 550 kW, along with a 205 kWh usable-capacity battery pack, which allows it to travel about 745 km on a single charge under the EPA test cycle.

In addition to everything learned during the development of its now-defunct robotaxi division, General Motors’ new Level 3 autonomous driving system will rely on two major assets the company has: the 600 thousand miles of roads already mapped across North America for its Super Cruise system, and the enormous amount of data generated during the roughly 5 million miles driven by Cruise vehicles before its closure.

More news on the Escalade IQ

It should also be noted that, apart from this new Level 3 autonomous driving system, the Escalade IQ will also introduce in 2028 a new centralized computing platform, which will jointly handle propulsion, steering and safety, as well as infotainment. Thanks to this new platform, General Motors will increase the capacity of OTA software updates tenfold, bandwidth a thousandfold, and the raw computing power used by artificial intelligence for autonomous functions 35-fold.