GM Wants Your Next Pickup Truck to Drive Itself

Autonomous driving is moving beyond futuristic prototypes and into the vehicles that actually generate most of Detroit's profits. General Motors says it plans to bring eyes-off autonomous driving to large pickups and SUVs.

The strategy expands beyond the previously announced Cadillac Escalade IQ program and targets the categories where GM has its biggest customer base.

Eyes-off is a meaningful step beyond hands-free

Today's advanced driver-assistance systems can steer and control speed, but they generally require the driver to keep watching the road. Eyes-off systems are designed to let the driver stop monitoring under specific conditions.

That creates a much more useful experience, but it also raises harder questions about safety, liability and how control is handed back to the driver.

GM is rebuilding the software underneath the car

The autonomous-driving plan is part of a larger shift toward centralized computing. GM is developing an in-house software architecture built around a central computer that can receive remote updates and support new digital services.

Executives increasingly describe future vehicles as rolling computers, or even robots, rather than mechanical products with software added on top.

Why automakers care about software revenue

Digital services can carry much higher margins than selling vehicles. That gives automakers a strong incentive to build recurring software businesses around autonomy, navigation, AI assistants and connected services.

If GM can bring eyes-off autonomy to high-volume trucks and SUVs, it could move advanced driving technology from a niche feature into the mainstream.