Super Cruise is back, at least for the Cadillac Escalade SUV.
General Motors was forced to strip its hands-free driving system from its flagship SUV earlier this year amid a global shortage of microchips. But the advanced driver assistance system is back in production.
A GM spokesperson confirms, “we began building Escalades with Super Cruise again this week.”
Super Cruise is a hands-free driving system but does not make a car truly autonomous. It combines adaptive cruise control with lane-keeping assist, allowing drivers to take their hands off the wheel (but not their attention off the road) on over 200,000 miles of pre-mapped highways across North America.
Related: Self-Driving Cars — Everything You Need to Know
GM plans to sell the system in at least 22 vehicles by the end of 2023.
But, to stretch its supply of microchips amid a worldwide shortage, the company stripped several features from some vehicles this year. Large trucks and SUVs lost HD Radio, fuel-saving stop-start systems, and mpg-stretching cylinder deactivation.
Super Cruise is standard on every trim level of Escalade except the introductory Luxury model for 2022.
GM plans to introduce a more advanced system it calls Ultra Cruise on some Cadillac models by 2023. Ultra Cruise, the company says, will function on most roads without the need for pre-mapping.
