Cadillac will begin offering advanced “intelligent and connected” vehicle technologies on certain 2017 model-year vehicles, General Motors CEO Mary Barra said Sunday, Sept. 7, during her keynote address at the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) World Congress in Detroit.

In about two years, an all-new Cadillac vehicle will feature an advanced driver-assist technology called Super Cruise, and in that same time frame the Cadillac CTS will be enabled with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology, Barra said.

“A tide of innovation has invigorated the global auto industry, and we are taking these giant leaps forward to remain a leader of new technology,” Barra said. “We are not doing this for the sake of the technology itself. We’re doing it because it’s what customers around the world want. Through technology and innovation, we will make driving safer.”

Super Cruise, the working name for GM’s automated driving technology, will offer hands-off lane following, braking and speed control in certain highway driving conditions. The system is designed to increase the comfort of an attentive driver on freeways, both in bumper-to-bumper traffic and on long road trips.

V2V communication technology could mitigate many traffic collisions and improve traffic congestion by sending and receiving basic safety information, such as location, speed and direction of travel between vehicles that are approaching each other. The technology will warn drivers and work together with active safety features, such as forward collision warning, already available on many production cars.

“We are also expanding the availability of technologies like adaptive forward lighting, rear vision cameras, blind-zone monitoring and lane-keeping, and we are adding more nameplates that offer adaptive cruise control and collision-imminent braking,” Barra said.

Commercializing a fully automated vehicle “may take until the next decade,” however, Barra added. 

To view a short video shown before Barra's keynote address, click here.