To achieve this higher autonomy, Ultra Cruise relies on a combination of cameras, radars and lidar technology onboard. They all work together to support everything from parking in your driveway to avoiding objects, on- demand lane changes and left and right-hand turns. All the while offering a human-machine interface directly in front of the driver, so they know exactly what the car sees.

GM is planning on covering over 2 million miles of roads in Canada and the USA in time for the Ultra Cruise official launch in 2023. After that, another 1.4 million miles will be covered. At launch Ultra Cruise will be available exclusively to GM’s Cadillac models, their other brands including GMC, Buick and Chevrolet will have to settle for Super Cruise for a while at least.

Ultra Cruise is now the closest rival of the autonomy champ, Tesla Full Self Driving, which also doesn’t offer 100% hands free autonomy despite its name. It will interesting to see how GM’s system performs on the real road.