2022 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali to Get Super Cruise Self-Driving System

Following the introduction of the 2021 Ford F-150 and the announcement that it will feature Ford’s new Active Drive Assist hands-free steering sometime in 2021, the folks at GMC announced that they’ll introduce GM’s rival Super Cruise semi-autonomous system in the Sierra 1500 full-size pickup truck. Super Cruise will become an option late in the 2022 model year, according to a GM press release, meaning that it will likely  arrive on vehicles as much as a year after the Ford system goes live.

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What makes the GMC Super Cruise system unique is that it allows for operation while towing a trailer — if you have the fortitude to trust a truck to steer itself down a highway with a trailer while you keep your hands in your lap. The system uses a camera to monitor the driver to ensure that they are alert and monitoring the vehicle, a lidar system to detect the road ahead and stored knowledge of the road the truck is traveling for detailed map data. As such, Super Cruise is limited in its operation to roughly 200,000 miles of American and Canadian public roads, mostly highways that have been carefully mapped by a third-party company. This also gives it a bit of an advantage over the Ford system, which is active on only 100,000 miles of mapped road (so far), according to Ford. 

Thus far, Super Cruise has been offered only on Cadillac vehicles, with the now-discontinued CT6 offering it. However, GM plans to use the system in other Cadillac vehicles in the near future, as well as expand it to high-level offerings on other GM brand vehicles. The Ford system will debut on the 2021 Mustang Mach-E electric SUV, followed by the 2021 F-150. Ford’s Active Drive Assist will be standard on Limited trim F-150s and optional on Lariat, King Ranch or Platinum models, but it will not be active until an over-the-air or dealer-visit update in mid-2021, according to Ford. GMC’s Super Cruise, meanwhile, can only be had on the Denali trim of the Sierra 1500.

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