Tech World: 2021 Cadillac Escalade, More Proof That Driverless Cars Are Coming

by John Pagnussati ’21

General Motors, the current owner of the Cadillac car manufacturer, has debuted an improved Escalade that was also announced to be hands-free driving. The updated model of the Escalade is expected to be released in 2021 and recent Escalade models have been the best selling full-size luxury SUVfor the last 20 years. The Escalade will have a minor redesign to match Cadillac’s recent changes and will be released with new updated systems. Although the price of the Escalade is expected to be similar to its earlier 2020 starting model which is currently $75,000.

The Escalade will be Cadillac’s second model to feature the hands-free driving system and is expected to be the answer to Tesla’s autopilot, by making its system more user-friendly and safer for daily use. The system’s use of high-tech cameras, radars, a very accurate GPS, and 3D maps of 200,000 miles of roads allows the driver to be completely hands-free. The system controls the speed of the vehicle to avoid any possible obstacle and steers the car when needed to make lane changes and to keep it in the lane in order to keep it steady, allowing the driver to keep their hands off the wheel and their feet off the pedals. The Escalade will also come equipped with facial recognition, which will deactivate the hands-free system if the driver isn’t paying attention to the road ahead.

Cadillac’s movement towards driverless vehicles are signs of a possibility in completely driverless vehicles in the near future. The innovation of this brand new system will possibly contribute to other major car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Ford, and Nissan to follow the path that Cadillac is taking and advance the tech aspect of their vehicles. Cadillac’s movement towards more advanced hands-free driving cars is an open opportunity for another manufacturer to further their company and interest more consumers. 

The major car manufacturers are currently attempting to make more fuel-efficient vehicles to better protect the future environment by lowering emissions and making more hybrid vehicles to release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The quickly developing tech advancements, shown through Cadillac, could lead to more hands-free driving cars or possibly a complete movement by all manufacturers to hands-free driving cars by 2030.