Move over Tesla, GM’s Super Cruise driver-assist features are better

With all of the column inches that Tesla gets for its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving system, you’d be forgiven if you thought it was the best system on the market. That dubious honor actually belongs to Cadillac, with its Super Cruise self-driving system. That’s according to Consumer Reports, where the Cadillac cruised to victory in this year’s rankings.

The Super Cruise system also won the last time CR did a ranking, back in 2018. That leaves Tesla a “distant second” according to the testers at CR. Yikes.

The thing is, they’re very different systems, and I’m not entirely sure I agree with CR‘s assessment. Tesla’s Autopilot system was created to work anywhere, anytime; with all of the additional processing that an all-encompassing system requires. Super Cruise took a different road, limiting the system to pre-mapped roads only, and aggressively reminds the driver to keep their attention on the road. How aggressively? Well, there’s a camera watching the driver at all times, and if their attention goes elsewhere, a combination of lights and sounds reminds them to focus.

It seems that CR really ranked the relative safety of each self-driving system, and not how impressive the system is overall. Tesla lost points for letting drivers use Autopilot on residential streets, while Super Cruise gained points for doing a better job of safely bringing the vehicle to a stop if the driver was incapacitated for some reason.

Still, this will be seen as a win by GM, Cadillac’s parent company, who plans to bring the system to 22 more vehicles over the next few years. Oh, and if you wondered about the other self-driving systems from other manufacturers? CR didn’t find enough between them to differentiate, making a crowded pack behind Cadillac and Tesla.

What do you think? Surprised that Tesla didn’t get first place? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Tesla calling its driver-assist feature “self-driving” is misleading, says new report
• Ford’s new Active Drive Assist looks to take on Tesla’s autopilot features
• Waymo will call you mid-ride to let you know not to record your driverless taxi ride
• Tesla kills its PR department, starts work on actual self-driving dragons and humans as fuel

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.