— General Motors will release new technology called "Super Cruise" on its 2017 Cadillac cars that allow the cars to "talk" to other vehicles. Called vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, the technology could allow vehicles to "talk" to each other in an effort to avoid crashes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believes vehicles equipped with V2V technology will help to avoid rear-end, lane change and intersection accidents. The vehicles will exchange data such as speed and vehicle position at a rate of 10 times per second.
GM says starting with the 2017 models, Cadillac will offer the technology to consumers on all its vehicles. However, the 2017 Cadillac CTS will come standard with the technology.
Although it won't be a self-driving car, the 2017 Cadillac CTS will allow hands-off lane following, braking and speed control. GM says the system will be used to "increase the comfort of an attentive driver on freeways" and decrease the odds of being in an accident. Additionally, GM says the technology will supplement current safety features such as forward collision warning while also improving traffic congestion.
Although V2V technology is expected to be the wave of the future, there is a catch. The Cadillac Super Cruise technology will be meaningless if other cars aren't equipped with a V2V system because the Cadillac cars will have no other vehicles to "talk" to on the roads.
GM says it's introducing the technology to improve the safety of drivers, however, GM has been busy recalling almost 30 million vehicles in 2014 for safety defects. Furthermore, the automaker is busy paying legal claims because of deaths related to a known defective 57-cent ignition switch.
