For Release: Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, 5:15 p.m. EDT
GM Has Long Envisioned a Day When Cars Don’t Crash
Company has long history of intelligent and connected driving technology
development
DETROIT – Despite the recent flood of interest, intelligent and connected cars are
not a new concept created in Silicon Valley. General Motors has led the
development of advanced safety technology for decades and the automaker has
long envisioned a day when vehicles don’t crash.
“Through innovation, we are working hard on the advancement of intelligent and
connected driving technologies that will make driving safer and more efficient,” said
Jon Lauckner, GM chief technology officer, vice president of Global R&D and
president of GM Ventures. “Throughout GM’s history, a variety of concept vehicles
and advanced production technologies have allowed us to continue to push the
boundaries of our own innovation.
“We are on a journey that one day, in the not so distant future, intelligent and
connected vehicle technologies could help eliminate the crash altogether.”
Here is a look at some of GM’s significant milestones – concept vehicles, research
projects and technology introductions – over the past 60 years designed to advance
the development of intelligent and connected driving technologies and make cars
that don’t crash a reality.
1956 – Firebird II Concept Vehicle
Resembling a torpedo by design, the Firebird II was a statement of confidence. This
family car concept had an electronic brain that connected to a future highway called
the Safety Autoway, equipped with a metallic conductor embedded in the roadway.
As drivers entered the highway, they could radio the control tower to indicate their
desire to go into automatic mode. At that point the driver would merge onto the
lane with the conductor and let the “electronic brain” take over.
The Firebird II also had an early concept of infotainment with one screen that
displayed navigation and practical information like when to refuel. Another screen
featured a communication system to interact with other drivers or just watch
television in the car. No mention as to whether or not the TV was in color.
1959 – Cadillac Cyclone Concept Vehicle
The quest to reach the moon was clearly on the minds of Americans as the Cadillac
Cyclone styling borrowed many styling cues from a space ship. But the car’s “twin
domes,” which pointed forward and were located directly in front of the wheels,
were not for looks alone. They held “proximity sensing units” that could detect
other vehicles or objects and warn the driver with a sound or light.
While not an automated vehicle, the Cyclone sensors were a significant concept for
1959. Today, vehicles’ driver assist technologies like lane keep assist and adaptive
cruise control use cameras and sensors to help maintain the driver’s safety. As
these technologies advance, they bring closer a vehicle that will allow a driver to
safely remove his or her hands from the wheel.
1996 – Debut of OnStar
OnStar was the industry’s first embedded telematics system in 1996. Originally
launching on the Cadillac Deville, Seville and Eldorado, OnStar first offered Airbag
Deployment Notification, so if the airbags in a vehicle deployed, OnStar could
contact the vehicle and send help directly to the scene.
Today, OnStar serves more than 7 million subscribers in the U.S., Canada, China
and Mexico. The telematics unit has expanded its service offerings to include
Advanced Automatic Crash Notification, which alerts an OnStar advisor if there’s
been a moderate-to-severe crash, and can provide critical crash information –
direction of impact, multiple impacts, rollover, etc. – so that first responders can be
better informed.
1998 – Buick LeSabre Automated Highway Research Project and XP2000
Concept Vehicle
Tens of thousands of high-strength magnets were outfitted on a 7.6 mile stretch of
highway in Southern California to demonstrate modified Buick LeSabres that could
steer, accelerate and brake without driver input.
Around the same time, Buick unveiled the XP2000 Concept car that used a more
advanced version of the Automated Highway to allow the driver to divert attention
away from the road – and the wheel – while the car not only cruised to a
destination, but also featured a “Smart Card” that could pay road toll, fuel charges
and perform other services.
2000 – Automotive Collision Avoidance System Project
A series of Buick LeSabres were equipped with sensors and instruments that made
the cars more aware of the surrounding traffic and environment. They could detect
potential dangers and warn the driver, a big step toward the eventual development
of vehicle-to-x communication.
Heralded as one of the most comprehensive field tests of its time, the outfitted
LeSabres were loaned to drivers for two-week trials in order to collect data and
learn how these technologies could be perfected and used by customers.
2005 – V2V and V2I Concept Technology
In November of 2005, GM was the first automaker to demonstrate vehicle-tovehicle (V2V) technology combined with automatic braking. If the vehicle read that
a crash was imminent, it sent alerts to the driver. If the driver did not respond, the
vehicle could safely bring the car to a stop to prevent the driver from joining a
potential pile-up.
V2V communication allows vehicles to send and receive from each other basic
information such as location, speed and direction of travel. Vehicle-to-Infrastructure
(V2I) communication shares information about traffic signal phase, road attributes
and surface conditions. Each technology has the potential to mitigate traffic
collisions and congestion.
2007 – The ‘Boss’ Wins 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Contest
The “Boss,” a self-driving Chevrolet Tahoe, claimed first prize at the DARPA Urban
Challenge, a competition created by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency whose goal was to help accelerate technology development in military
transportation.
GM partnered with Carnegie Mellon University and others to develop the “Boss,” a
fully autonomous vehicle equipped with software and computer controls for driving
along with several radars, lasers and cameras for situation assessment. The Boss
outdid vehicle entries from 35 other teams as it navigated a 60-mile course without
a driver or remote control in urban settings complete with merging traffic, stop
signs, speed limits and busy intersections.
2010 – Chevrolet EN-V Concept Vehicle Debuts at Shanghai World Expo
Evolving personal mobility is about addressing serious global issues like
urbanization and environmentalism. That was the goal of the EN-V which debuted
at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The EN-V was envisioned as a possible solution
to predictions that 60 percent of the world’s population would live in urban areas by
2030, straining public infrastructure.
EN-V is a small, two-seat electric vehicle that combined Global Positioning System
(GPS) with V2V technologies, resulting in a concept vehicle that could park itself,
find the fastest route and transport occupants in an environmentally clean, safe and
efficient manner.
2012 – Super Cruise Media Demonstration
In spring of 2012, GM unveiled Super Cruise, an automated driving technology that
the company had been quietly developing for a number of years. GM began
demonstrating the feature at the Milford Proving Ground to a select group of media.
Super Cruise can assist in highway driving, including hands-off lane following,
braking and speed control under certain driving conditions. The system is designed
to help the driver on freeways, whether in bumper-to-bumper traffic jams or on
long road trips.
Cadillac’s Super Cruise technology uses a variety of seamlessly integrated sensors
including cameras, radar, GPS and map data to enhance the driving experience.
2012 – GM Participates in US DOT’s V2V Safety Pilot Research Project
GM helped drive a critical phase of V2V and V2I communications technology
development by providing eight specially equipped vehicles for a year of real-world
testing.
The V2V-equipped Buick and Cadillac cars were a part of a larger fleet of passenger
cars, commercial trucks and transit vehicles participating in the U.S. Department of
Transportation’s Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Model Deployment Program.
The V2V vehicles GM provided were production-viable integrated systems capable
of sending and receiving information from other vehicles, and warning drivers when
the potential for a collision was detected. For the V2I portion of the program, 73
lane-miles of Ann Arbor, Mich. roadway were instrumented with 29 roadsideequipment installations.
2013 – Sensor Fusion Debuts in All-New Cadillac XTS
When Cadillac launched the all-new XTS in 2012, GM introduced the most
technologically advanced production car in the luxury brand’s history. The vehicle
was offered with the Driver Assist Package, an advanced suite of active safety
technologies supported by sensor fusion, which enables the integration of a broad
range of sensing and positioning technologies that can alert drivers of road hazards
and help them avoid crashes.
The system’s use of radar, cameras and ultrasonic sensors enables advanced safety
features, including:
 Rear Automatic Braking
 Full-Speed Range Adaptive Cruise Control
 Intelligent Brake Assist
 Forward Collision Alert
 Automatic Collision Preparation
This sensor fusion system is a building block in the development of future
automated driving technologies. It will enable future active safety systems to
handle a greater number of inputs to provide 360 degrees of crash risk detection
and enhanced driver assist features.
2014 – Automated Chevrolet EN-V 2.0 Concept Vehicle
As an innovative, automated four-wheeled, zero-emission electric vehicle concept,
the EN-V 2.0 aims to contribute to sustainable mobility by reducing congestion and
pollution. This vehicle uses a combination of sensors, Lidar, V2V and GPS
technology to safely self-drive through low-speed areas.
In June of this year, GM demonstrated a non-autonomous version of the vehicle for
two weeks in the Tianjin Eco-City. The vehicle can travel about 25 miles on a single
charge and two EN-V 2.0s can fit into a parking spot intended for a typical vehicle.
Next – Super Cruise to Launch in New 2017 Cadillac Model
Super Cruise, the technology explained earlier, will appear for the first time on an
all-new Cadillac that’s going to enter a segment where the luxury automaker does
not currently compete today.
Next – GM to Introduce V2V Technology in 2017 Cadillac CTS
GM announced it will introduce V2V technology on the 2017 Cadillac CTS. V2V
technologies can enable new types of driver assist applications that notify drivers of
traffic events that may be beyond the driver's line of sight. For example, such
potential applications can detect a vehicle ahead that unexpectedly brakes hard or
encounters a hazardous road condition such as black ice or a severe pothole. As
more vehicles and more infrastructure are equipped with the technology, it will
increasingly be able to supplement active safety features to help avoid crashes.
General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30
countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastestgrowing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles
under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and
Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a
global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at
http://www.gm.com
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CONTACT:
Dan Flores
General Motors Communications
313-418-2374
daniel.flores@gm.com