I have regularly been effusive about General Motors’ Super Cruise. By geofencing the combination of adaptive cruise control and lane keeping so that it will only engage on divided-lane highways and topping that with a gaze-tracking driver-monitoring system that only allows Super Cruise to function when drivers have their eyes on the road ahead, it works extremely well and within a tight operational design domain that should preclude any chance of encountering a parked car.
After trying it out in the Cadillac CT6 in 2018, I was so impressed I echoed Alex Roy and called on GM to make Super Cruise available in as many models as possible, as soon as possible. GM is slowly doing this. Even Consumer Reports was impressed. But in all that time, I guess I never read the fine print.
Well, the people over at MotorTrend did, and guess what? It turns out that if you bought a model year 2018, 2019, or 2020 CT6, you actually only get a free three-year trial of Super Cruise functionality. After that point, you must have an active OnStar account for Super Cruise to continue to work:
New owners of 2018 (produced September 6th, 2017, and later), 2019*, and 2020 models receive the Super Cruise Package, which includes 3 years of OnStar to support functionality. To continue Super Cruise functionality after the 3-year Super Cruise package ends, an OnStar plan must be purchased.
GM did tell MotorTrend that a CT6’s adaptive cruise control and lane keeping would continue to work even with an inactive OnStar account. This would not be geofenced and would not use the driver-monitoring system, and it would also prompt you to put your hands on the steering wheel every 15 seconds. Otherwise, it would deactivate.
I have to say, I feel a bit misled. Sure, I didn’t spot that little bit of fine print, but neither, it seems, did any of my peers until now. (Except Bozi, but then he’s more machine than man. And I guess the Philadelphia Inquirer.) It’s certainly not a thing GM ever brought up when discussing the system with the media.
Given the cost of a new Cadillac CT6, it’s probably reasonable to expect that an owner will continue to maintain their OnStar subscription—the cheapest of which costs $25 a month—after the initial three years. And obviously the car needs to be able to receive map updates remotely. So perhaps I’m getting outraged over nothing. But will that be true for buyers of cheaper models once the feature rolls out down the range? Or for people buying a used CT6?
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that you should expect the worst (and even then you’ll be disappointed).
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1698226