GM will introduce ‘eyes-off’ driving in 2028

By Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN

New York (CNN) — General Motors, the 100-year-old car company that has struggled with its expensive modernization efforts, plans to offer Americans hands-free driving and the freedom to watch a movie on the go.

The company unveiled new “eyes-off” driving technology that will be available starting in 2028, part of a new technology initiative revealed by GM executives in New York Wednesday. The automaker said the initiative includes a conversational AI technology that will be introduced into vehicles next year.

“Imagine you step into your vehicle, you push a button, and it drives you to the office. You catch up on work, send emails, or watch an episode of your favorite show,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. “The car drops you off … then it goes to get your dry cleaning, take out for dinner, and it comes back in time so you can drive your kids to their soccer game.”

The version of the future imagined and described by Barra is years away, but in three years GM is promising the “eyes-off” driving experience will be available in their Cadillac Escalade IQ SUV.

This year GM will take a $1.6 billion hit to their electric vehicle business because of government policy changes and the termination of consumer EV tax credits. GM has poured tens of billions of dollars into their EV fleets but has struggled attracting like-minded consumers.

“Customers want immersive tech in their vehicles and to stay connected wherever they go. We’re drawing from our rich heritage, our design, our engineering, our manufacturing expertise, and we’re doing something entirely new,” said Barra.

This technology may be new for General Motors, but it’s far from the first car company to release this type of tech. Stellantis, Tesla, and Waymo already have driverless cars on the road. (Stellantis – along with Mercedes and Volkswagen – also have conversational AI capabilities.)

No company has yet achieved wide-scale commercialization of self-driving cars, so GM believes an opportunity for leadership still exists. But it has a tremendous amount of ground to make up.

“When we launch this, we’ll see what happens. We may be the first to have a personally owned self-driving vehicle that works, that’s safe and that’s important. I don’t view it as catchup. I view it as leapfrog,” said Sterling Anderson, Chief Product Officer at GM.

Barra and GM’s President Mark Reuss, who both began their careers at General Motors in the 1980’s, presided over Wednesday’s unveiling. They were joined by Anderson, who started six months ago and previously worked at Tesla, and Dave Richardson, the company’s SVP of Software Engineering, who joined almost two years ago from Apple.

“The juxtaposition on stage is not an accident, (it’s) stark,” Anderson said of his Tesla background.

Both hirings reflect that General Motors – the car company – must be a technology-first company to compete.

“It was just sort of a recognition that the company does need to get more technology forward and focused. But that just takes a little bit of time for people to get on the same page,” Richardson said.

Time is not on GM’s side. Cars from Chinese companies like BYD and Zeekr are rapidly gaining market share in Europe due to their lower prices and technology-forward designs. A 100% US tariff on Chinese cars has kept them out of the US market.

But if that changes, those companies could present a real challenge for GM. But Reuss thinks GMs offerings can compete.

“It’s not going to be taking apart Chinese cars and copying Chinese cars,” said Reuss. ”We went through technology investment and R&D and we’ll continue to do that and we have got to be the best, period. I think that wins with the customer.”

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