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GM intends to offer semi-autonomous vehicles by 2020

Prepare for a few years of technological saber-rattling, as the world's automakers begin pushing to bring self-driving cars to market. Earlier this week, Nissan announced that it aims to offer autonomous vehicles by 2020, while Google, BMW and several other marks are working on similar efforts.
General Motors is doing things differently, though. Rather than push for a fully autonomous car, it's continuing to refine its semi-autonomous Super Cruise, a product that we tested in April 2012 and that will eventually see use on some Cadillacs before trickling down to the rest of the General Motors family. Super Cruise, which is undergoing testing in the Cadillac SRX, doesn't take complete control out of the driver's hands. Rather, under a very specific set of circumstances on the freeway, it will marry the capabilities of things like lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control to allow the driver to take their hands off the wheel. All of which sounds a lot like the system Mercedes-Benz is launching on the 2014 S-Class.
The system is still in development, according to John Capp, GM's director of electrical controls and active safety technology. Now that that the biggest hurdle, steering control, has been cleared, GM's engineers can focus on things like teaching the system to adapt to differing road conditions and visibility levels. As we reported in 2012, Super Cruise is still befuddled in low-visibility situations or when road markings aren't particularly clear.

New Cadillac ELR ad more educational, less controversial than 'Poolside'

Cadillac's first TV commercial for its ELR plug-in hybrid, Poolside, was a smash hit, in that a lot of people saw and talked about it. The 60-second spot didn't say the car was a plug-in, took potshots at the work ethic of all non-Americans and has raked in over a million views on YouTube (you can add one more here). Caddy's new ELR video will get a lot less media attention, but that's exactly the point. Cadillac claims it was happy with the way actor Neil McDonough strutted his way into the controversial ELR discussion. This time around, though, the coupe gets promoted in a more traditional way: with information about the car and what it can do - you know, drive on electricity, capture braking energy into the battery, go further on gas power when needed, those kinds of things – courtesy of GM's executive chief engineer for electrified vehicles, Pam Fletcher. The tone of the video has not been changed because of the Poolside controversy. David Caldwell, manager of Cadillac communications, tells AutoblogGreen that the new video is not destined for TV and is completely different because it's meant for a different audience. "It doesn't have any direct relation to Poolside," he says. "TV advertising is not necessarily the heart of marketing something like the ELR. Notwithstanding the fact that we had a very thought-provoking ad [laughs]." "We definitely have a need to communicate what the ELR is" - Cadillac's David Caldwell The way you reach out to people via the web is different than the mass-media techniques used in spots like Poolside during big TV events (it aired during the Winter Olympics). The two video spots are different because you need to offer different information in different ways, for example having an ELR website as well as an iPad filled with ELR information at the dealership. For Cadillac, TV is "not going to be the predominant methodology," used to sell the ELR, Caldwell said, "the web is closer to what you need to do to reach people. We definitely have a need to communicate what the ELR is. It's not television advertising at all." Caldwell said a handful of other short videos similar to the new one will go live in the near future, showcasing design and powertrain aspects of the car. Keep an eye out for them – just don't look for them on TV. You can watch the new video below.

Crowd lifts Cadillac to free pedestrian after two vehicles barrel toward him

An elderly Missourian is lucky to be alive today after a car that had pinned him to the ground was lifted off him by witnesses. According to WDAF, Orlando Gentry and Troy Robertson were working at a Kansas City, Mo., clothing store when a stolen minivan careened through a red light at 35th and Prospect and was immediately T-boned by a woman driving a gold Cadillac. The impact drove both vehicles up onto the sidewalk at the corner, side by side, directly at pedestrian Carlos Green. "We was out here with our kids, and we was at work, and the next thing we heard was a boom!" Gentry told WDAF. "Man, those cars came out of nowhere, and Carlos was just helpless," Robertson said. Gentry tried to escape but was caught between the vehicles and pinned beneath the Caddy. Then a light pole punctuated the crash by falling on top of the Caddy - and almost on top of Carlos Green. "Yeah, he tried to jump out of the way, but he just got pinned underneath the Cadillac. He definitely hurt his right leg. When I saw all that, I screamed, 'Somebody help me help get this car off Carlos,'" Robertson said. He, Gentry and passersby lifted the heavy Caddy off Green so he could crawl free. Thankfully, Green wasn't seriously injured. He was discharged from an area hospital bruised, with one leg in a cast, but ultimately healthy. The woman driving the Cadillac was unhurt, but the two men driving the minivan ran off during the confusion. Kansas City police are looking for the escaped car thieves. This is the second time in as many weeks that people banded together to lift a car off someone. On May 9 in Philadelphia, a group of good Samaritans lifted an SUV off a little girl who had been run down and pinned beneath an SUV tire. Related Video: