1970 Cadillac Deville Convertible on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2018 Cadillac CT6 Drivers' Notes | Super Cruiser

The 2018 Cadillac CT6 showcases General Motors' impressive Super Cruise feature. It's the next milestone on the way to an autonomous future, though GM is being conservative about promoting Super Cruise's considerable prowess. It helps the driver, GM says. Does it work? Our editors have been testing one this week as the calendar turns and the temperatures drop in Michigan. Also, the CT6 is a really nice car. Here's what we think. Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder: Super Cruise, man. On Wednesday night, I rode home in a 2018 Cadillac CT6 with Super Cruise. I say "rode," but I was sitting in the driver's seat. I spent more time with my hands off the steering wheel than on it. It was super relaxing. Once I got on the highway, I set the cruise control, waited for the steering wheel icon to show up on the instrument cluster, and hit the button on the steering wheel that looked like a steering wheel (pretty meta, to be honest). The top section of the wheel illuminated in a green arc, and I felt the weight of the steering lift as the car began driving itself. I put my feet flat on the floor, rested my hands on my knees, and just watched the road while listening to a podcast ("The Dollop," if you were wondering). To be honest, I had trouble concentrating on the audio, as my thoughts were captivated by the way the car managed the road and traffic around me. Sure, I had to change lanes on my own and take over steering on interchanges and surface streets, but when the AI took the reins, it had my complete confidence. Perhaps just as surprising, the CT6 was also a blast to drive manually. It felt super smooth, with plenty of power and poise. I enjoyed bending it through 50-mph curves almost as much as I enjoyed being driven. Almost. Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore: Super Cruise just works. I was blown away how easy it was to use and how well it just did what it was supposed to do. Merging into the teeth of rush hour traffic in metro Detroit, I braced for the worst. I figured I'd be stuck in bumper-to-bumper gridlock and Super Cruise would never get deployed. Frankly, I was cynical Super Cruise would work. But then I was able to hit the 70-mph speed limit and figured, well, let's just see about this thing. Like John, I did the two-steps to set up SC, and boom, it worked. It trailed the cars in front of me at a proper distance. It braked naturally to a stop and then resumed speed. It slowed down when a Jeep Grand Cherokee cut me off.

7 major automakers to build open EV charging network

A new joint venture established by BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis will build a new North American electric vehicle charging network on a scale designed to compete with Tesla's industry-benchmark Supercharger network. The 30,000-plus planned new chargers will accommodate both Tesla's almost-standard North American Charging System (NACS) and existing automakers' Combined Charging System (CCS) options, effectively guaranteeing compatibility with the vast majority of current and upcoming electric models — whether they're from one of the involved automakers or not.  "With the generational investments in public charging being implemented on the Federal and State level, the joint venture will leverage public and private funds to accelerate the installation of high-powered charging for customers. The new charging stations will be accessible to all battery-powered electric vehicles from any automaker using Combined Charging System (CCS) or North American Charging Standard (NACS) and are expected to meet or exceed the spirit and requirements of the U.S. National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program." Critically, the automakers involved will have a say in how the charging tech is implemented, guaranteeing that the hardware will play nicely with each automaker's in-house charging systems. Hyundai and Kia, for example, were hesitant to jump on board the Tesla NACS bandwagon earlier this year over concerns that the Supercharger network is insufficient for powering the two automakers' 800-volt charging systems; similar tech is used by Volkswagen and Porsche.  In addition to providing much-needed capacity and high-output charging for America's growing fleet of electric cars and trucks, the new network will integrate seamlessly with each automaker's in-app and in-vehicle features, rather than forcing customers to use third-party tools and payment systems, as is the case with some existing public charging infrastructure.  "The functions and services of the network will allow for seamless integration with participating automakersÂ’ in-vehicle and in-app experiences, including reservations, intelligent route planning and navigation, payment applications, transparent energy management and more. In addition, the network will leverage Plug & Charge technology to further enhance the customer experience," the announcement said.

GM considering new powertrain options for large SUVs

Aside from the new General Motors offerings, there's not a whole lot of action going on in the fullsize SUV segment. That doesn't seem to be stopping GM from pushing the envelope in the market as Automotive News is reporting that the automaker is looking to introduce some new powertrain options into the Chevy Tahoe (and Suburban), GMC Yukon (and Yukon XL) and the Cadillac Escalade - all have been redesigned for the 2015 model year.
Now, we already know that GM and Ford are collaborating on nine- and ten-speed transmissions for a broad range of applications (including the big SUVs), but this new report says that GM is also considering other options as a way to one-up the competition and, of course, to optimize fuel economy. AN quotes Jeff Luke, executive chief engineer for GM trucks, as saying that "interesting powertrain technologies" are coming including a return of a hybrid SUV and possibly even a diesel engine. Although it sounds like the latter could come down to how customers respond to the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel.