Riding along with Cadillac's Super Cruise

CLEVELAND -- "Let go." It's what I told myself when taking my hands off the steering wheel of a 2018 Cadillac CT6 at 70 mph to allow the semiautonomous Super Cruise system to take control of the car.

It's something I had been waiting to do since I tested a prototype of the system at General Motors' Milford Proving Ground in 2012. The experience was liberating, mostly stress-free and a glimpse into how driver-assist systems and autonomous vehicles can redefine American road trips.

Super Cruise, which Cadillac touts as the "world's first true hands-free driving system for the freeway," worked as advertised for most of a two-day, nearly 900-mile road trip from this Ohio city to Memphis, Tenn., with a stop in Chicago.

My driving partner and I rarely had to take control of the car on the nearly 550-mile trek from Chicago to Memphis, including the final 250 miles I drove without touching the pedals or steering wheel outside of construction zones and a brief stop.

The system allows drivers to enjoy the views and their passengers in the car, while making sure they pay enough attention to the road in case something unexpected occurs.

Despite not being able to change lanes like some systems on the market, Super Cruise is as, if not more, advanced than any technology available to consumers today. That includes Tesla Inc.'s Autopilot.

Most notably, Super Cruise doesn't make drivers continually touch the steering wheel to ensure they are alert and actually the driver. It also rides smoother and communicates better when the driver needs to take control.

Super Cruise uses lidar mapping and a suite of cameras and sensors to see and monitor the road. It is programmed to work on 160,000 miles of interstates and other divided highways with no cross-traffic in the U.S. and Canada.

A camera monitors the driver, too, and makes sure he or she is not nodding off or looking away from the road for too long. That's something no other system has and does.

The system warns an inattentive driver through a series increasing alerts that begin with a light bar atop the steering wheel.

The light is green when the system is engaged and blinks when a driver-facing camera on the steering console detects the driver is not paying attention. It turns blue when the driver takes control to change lanes and flashes red when the driver needs to take immediate control.

Super Cruise also offers seat vibrations, chimes or verbal cues for the driver to take control. If no response occurs, the system will engage the hazard lights, come to a complete stop and phone the car through OnStar. If there is no response, emergency units are alerted.

How long a driver can not be paying attention for the system to become concerned varies based on the vehicle's speed. It's a bit less strict about paying attention when crawling in rush hour than when traveling at highway speeds.

The system sounds more complex to operate than it actually is while driving. Engaging Super Cruise is as simple as turning on adaptive cruise control, of which it uses many of the same cameras and sensors to drive.

As I told myself, "let go" also is what Cadillac is telling customers to do in a new national advertising campaign for the system, which is arriving in dealerships.

But getting drivers to let go of the wheel is going to take more than a traditional advertising campaign with the same tag line, which is why Cadillac also is doing a national training campaign for dealers.

The system may be the best on the market, but it isn't perfect. And getting drivers to engage and trust Super Cruise may arguably be harder than the decade or so of development that has gone into the technology.

Super Cruise will not take drivers through toll booths and certain highway interchanges. The company recommends that drivers take manual control while driving through construction areas, as the system doesn't avoid cones or road barrels. It also will not work in certain weather conditions such as heavy rain or snow, or when bright sunlight disrupts the driver-facing camera.

The latter is what I and other journalists experienced for the first hour or so on our trip from Cleveland to Chicago. The system sporadically shutdown for what appeared to be no reason. And to "let go" of the steering wheel caused more anxiety than relaxation.

The problem was the sun was at an angle where it was blocking the dash-mounted camera that monitors the driver's alertness. Essentially, the camera could not monitor whether I was paying attention, so it continued to tell me to take control of the vehicle.

The system, however, did not alert me to the nature of the problem. It simply wouldn't engage or would turn the vehicle back over to me, even though I was attentive and had my hands on the wheel.

Not knowing what was wrong caused a new level of anxiety while driving.

Both are problems GM is aware of and working to correct, according to officials.

They're also looking at adding capabilities, such as changing lanes, to Super Cruise, which by SAE International standards is a Level 2 driver assistance system. Fully autonomous is Level 5.

Super Cruise is a $5,000 option on the CT6 Premium Luxury trim, which starts at $66,290, including shipping. The system, as reported by Automotive News, is standard on the top-end CT6 Platinum. That model starts at $85,290, including shipping.

Cadillac, according to a spokesman, expects 20 to 25 percent of all CT6 models to feature Super Cruise, as 15 to 20 percent of current CT6 sales are Platinum models.

Super Cruise also will expand to CT6 models sold in China in 2018. The company is mapping highways there for the vehicle.

GM has declined to say whether Cadillac will roll out Super Cruise across its lineup. But GM executives, including CEO Mary Barra and product chief Mark Reuss, have been bullish on future applications of the technology.