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⚡ This Week’s Big Charge
💡 General Motors’ Big Technology Push, Explained
A woman cruises down the highway in her Cadillac with her eyes on a White Lotus episode playing on the center screen. An engineer works side-by-side with an adaptable robotic arm. A car shopper buys an electric pickup, and the gear that lets its battery power their home during a blackout.
This is the future that General Motors is pitching. In many ways, it’s actually the present. But at its GM Forward event in New York City this week, top executives shared a roadmap for the future. Whatever’s next, they say, will be about batteries, AI, autonomy and software—and will be more like a robot than a conventional car.
“A car is one of the most advanced pieces of technology you'll ever own,” said Sterling Anderson, GM’s Chief Product Officer, himself a veteran of Tesla and co-founder of self-driving trucking firm Aurora. “It's not often described as a robot, but that's what it is, and as we build this intelligence into it, it has to continue to work flawlessly at high speeds.”
I was among the reporters at GM’s event. There’s a lot to unpack. Here’s my take on what it means for the trajectory of the car industry.
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🛻 What’s Next For GM:
“Eyes-off” highway driving is coming to Super Cruise in 2028. That means you’ll be able to take your hands off the wheel and not even have to watch the road. (Super Cruise currently allows you to drive hands-free only.)
This is a huge step toward fully autonomous cars, and it’s enabled by LIDAR (laser-based radar).
LIDAR has been used on Waymo’s driverless taxis and the like for years, but it’s still quite nascent on passenger cars. This debuts on the 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ. (Read my deep dive at InsideEVs.)
Also coming in 2028: a new Nvidia computer system and electrical architecture for all of GM’s cars—EVs and gas ones alike. Fewer parts and wiring overall, a unified software stack for everything from subcompacts to electric luxury SUVs, and faster over-the-air updates.
Energy storage: Every GM EV can act as a home backup generator. Soon, the equipment to do that will be leased out to homeowners, presumably at lower prices than an outright purchase. Even non-GM owners can get a home battery storage unit.
Google’s Gemini AI is coming next year as an in-car AI assistant that’s more conversational than current voice controls.
Robots: No, it’s not a full-blown Tesla Optimus play. But GM says that its engineers are building advanced robots that incorporate a century of carmaking expertise with AI to improve future manufacturing.
So what does it all mean?