General Motors confirmed at CES 2022 this week that it will deliver its first fully autonomous vehicle for personal use by mid-decade.
In a statement, the American automaker said engineers at both GM and its AV subsidiary Cruise are “pursuing a comprehensive path to autonomous mobility with the aim to deliver the first personal autonomous vehicle from General Motors as soon as mid-decade.”
While the automaker did not offer any specific details on this future personal AV, it seems likely such a vehicle would use the self-driving tech currently being developed by Cruise for its Cruise Origin robotaxi and would fall under the Cadillac luxury brand. Cadillac is at the forefront of AV adoption at GM, seeing as it will be the first GM brand to adopt the company’s upcoming Ultra Cruise system, which will enable hands-free driving in 95 percent of all driving scenarios. Ultra Cruise will be offered on the full-size Cadillac Celestiq sedan for the 2025 model year.
GM also debuted the sleek new Cadillac InnerSpace Concept this week – a fully autonomous luxury car that is clearly aimed at consumers rather than fleets. The InnerSpace Concept features seating for two in a theater-style seating layout positioned around a large panoramic SMD LED display. The InnerSpace joins two Cadillac autonomous concepts unveiled previously at CES 2021, including a single-seater flying luxury concept, as well as a luxury robotaxi EV with space for six passengers called the SocialSpace (below).
With this information in mind, it seems likely GM’s first fully autonomous vehicle for personal use will be from the Cadillac brand. Such a vehicle would likely be quite expensive, considering the cutting edge nature of Cruise’s self-driving tech, so it makes the most sense to market it under a luxury brand while the tech is still so new.
Recent GM Authority spy photos of a Cadillac Escalade fitted with LiDAR and radar sensors serve as further evidence the first personal AV from GM will be a Cadillac. Those photos showed two different previous-gen Escalade prototypes fitted with different sensor arrays, which were likely being used by GM engineers to further develop its AV hardware and software.
We’ll provide more information on this future GM mystery AV as its 2025 arrival approaches.
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Comments
I don’t need that stupid box on the wheels. I don’t need a full autonomous car without a steering wheel.
I need a big gt luxury coupe that I will enjoy driving it.
Stop making useless concepts . Please.
Gettin sick of it already.
“General Motors And Cruise Aim To Deliver First Personal Autonomous Vehicle By Mid-Decade”
I’ll believe it when I see it
Re: would I ever buy one of these ugly things? HELL no.
Love it. Makes me feel alive.
Cadillac can’t even build a competent, competitive sedan or CUV. The only thing they have that inexplicably folks seem to like is the rebadged Tahoe. Their launch of SuperCruise has been horrendous as it launched on a product that was withdrawn from the market taking the autonomous technology with it for a while. And the demise of that product, the CT6, was wrought with confusion. First it was canceled, then it wasn’t, then it was again, then no maybe not…we’re working on it, then ultimately it died. Further it died with a brand-new, much anticipated, and much needed DOHC V8 that they shockingly only built a few units with. It’s been utter chaos for years now. They can’t seem to devise a coherent naming convention or know whether they’re in Detroit or New York City. They can’t figure out a brand slogan and have an endless parade of leaders that constantly shift strategies. They say they’re going all electric but in the meantime they’ve just launched a throwback 6.2 L V8 hot rod that’s the obnoxious antithesis of everything in their DNA. Until Cadillac can master the basics, it’s unimaginable that they’ll be able to lead in any way. It’s beyond a tragedy what Mary and her band of incompetents have done to an American icon. I fully expect the brand to be canceled by gm’s notorious bean counters long before some self-driving pipe dream fantasy could come to fruition.
Well GM as a whole with classic Cadillac and Pontiac went absolutely BK in ’09 so what’s this rant about Cadillac will disappear about?…
And you will be wrong Ci2Eye.
Couldn’t agree more. I have wanted to buy a Cadillac for some years now, they are never able to build a superior product. My current vehicle is an Audi A6, far better than anything at a Cadillac dealership.
It can be FSD, but it better foot pedals and a steering wheel….
I’d actually foresee a future of autonomous flying vehicles for the super wealthy. Why would they want to sit in traffic watching a movie when they can be there in 5 minutes? And if the promise of batteries is achieved, I see air travel happening sooner rather than later. Many startups are working the problem and I believe China and Dubai are running prototypes with passengers. Further, low altitude could be completely controlled air space with no human pilots, since it would be a completely new transport corridor. Then the autopilots don’t have to contend with unpredictable people.
But do have to deal with unpredictable winds, nothing like ending your autopilot flight like flying into a microburst…
Guestt,
The point of the rant is simply this: Cadillac should be rebuilt with the basics first. There is no space for pipe dreams now when there are so many deficiencies on the foundational aspects of operating an automotive brand. If they can’t get their house in order, and are too busy daydreaming about some future fantasy, the gm bean counters will shut them down faster than someone can utter the phrase Standard of the World. Whomever is running the show today (I honestly can’t remember who it is this month) needs to be showing a sane, rational plan back to relevance instead of a grandiose claim of a plan to exhibit leadership in a hyper niche’ future category.
Cadillac is rebuilding by building utterly expensive vehicles that make rich people aspire to buy one. If you want an affordable Caddy sedan the CT4/5 are a hullva value. From starting from scratch, that’s Chevy/Buick’s territory.
If I have a cool car I will be the one driving it.
Remember “in Soviet Russia car drives you”! Lol… How do you insure this thing, how do you blame a human that’s not driving the car? Come on Cadillac bring back the Fleetwood, The Seville, the big two doors like the eldorodo… Don’t know if I spelled that right.
Again the over-abundance of naysayers on this site tells me it’s frequented by a bunch of old-school diehards who don’t like change and constantly proclaim “it’ll never work”, while claiming to have all the answers for what Mary Barra and Co. SHOULD be doing, all while GMs stock price hits new high after new high. I’m 64 and looking FORWARD to the future because it will be AMAZING. Not sure how old the rest of you are, but some of you sound like bitter old farts lol.
Yes, things have never been as good in this country as it is now with all this great technology 🙄
My dad’s Fleetwoods in the 60s were truly special cars for their times. Everyone would look at these beautiful cars and wonder who the “big shot” was. The point is that Cadillac had an identity and a presence. They lost their way with utility vehicles and trucks. They are no longer something to aspire to and are no different than any other brand out there. No one gives them a second look any more. It means nothing to own one today. They essentially killed the exclusive brand they once had.
Proving my point that many of you are living in the past and pining to go back to the golden age of GM. But the past is the past and it’s not coming back, no matter how much you want it to. I miss the old days too, but the future will be awesome too.
The timing is just right for Cadillac to explore into new niche’s in the future. In order for Cadillac to be in conversations again with new buyers, they are taking a chance and they have no choice. They need more than the CELESTIQ and Escalade to be an inspiring brand to own again. The CELESTIQ and Escalade alone will not cut it. Anyone knows that Cadillac is in bad shape if the Escalade w/ near a $100K price tag sells near the volume and outsell the less expensive models in the Cadillac line-up that have a price tag half the price for the CUV & SUV market.
Many naysayers may not like the new direction Cadillac is going but leading can be controversial and should. By following, you are playing too safe and it got Cadillac no where.
I like the concept of the Innerspace luxury coupe. If everything goes as planned, don’t be surprise to expect a price similar or higher than the CELESTIQ that will debut in ’25 as a ’26-’27 model year. This car will be far reaching and will be low volume like the CELESTIQ. There will be less expensive PALV after this depending on the success of the market.
So there are new niche’s to explore and enter into that market. It is not a guarantee that it will be successful but no one will deny that Cadillac was leading during that time. Also, people need to remember that new ideas are invented all the time and it needs to be put to use to see if there is a market for it or not.