Cadillac Escalade IQ Will Debut GM's Eyes-Off Driving and New Computer in 2028

General Motors used its GM Forward event in New York on October 21, 2026, to put more detail behind its plan for driving that does not need the driver's eyes. The 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ is still first in line. Pre-production vehicles are now running on closed test courses, and GM said the system will later reach some of its best-selling gas-powered full-size SUVs and light-duty pickups, not only its EVs. The Escalade IQ will also be the first vehicle with GM's new central computer, which the company plans to spread across much of its lineup.

What eyes-off driving is meant to do

Today's Super Cruise lets drivers take their hands off the wheel on mapped highways, but a camera checks that their eyes stay on the road. The new system goes a step further. On the highway, under set conditions, it takes over the job of driving so the person behind the wheel can read or deal with messages. GM first announced the Escalade IQ debut a year ago; this update is about how it will get there and where it goes next.

GM avoids the industry's level numbers. "I get annoyed every time I hear someone say L3," chief product officer Sterling Anderson said at the event, according to AutoGuide. On the October 20 earnings call, an analyst pointed out that some German brands' eyes-off systems only work in narrow conditions. GM CEO Mary Barra replied that GM's version will cover highways without those tight limits on where it can run, and will carry the same safety focus as Super Cruise.

AutoGuide reports that the system uses three kinds of sensors, checked against each other before the car acts: lidar for a 3D picture of the surroundings, a newly developed high-resolution radar for speed and distance, and cameras for lanes and signs. Steering, braking, low-voltage power and computing all have backup paths, so the car can keep operating safely if one part fails.

A new computer under the Escalade IQ

The hardware story matters as much as the feature. Today, GM vehicles spread their functions across many separate control modules. The new architecture moves perception, propulsion, active safety and chassis control onto one liquid-cooled Central Compute Unit. GM's figures:

• About 40 times the computing power of its current systems
• 30% less wiring length and mass
• Up to 50% faster cellular connections for streaming, downloads and connected services
• Zonal hubs on a high-speed Ethernet network that carries 36 times more data, per AutoGuide

GM says the setup works with gas and electric drivetrains alike. After the Escalade IQ, it is due to reach GM's highest-volume gas full-size SUVs and trucks, its three-row crossovers and its next generation of EVs. Separating software from hardware should also make over-the-air updates easier to deliver across that mix.

How GM is testing it

GM leans on Super Cruise's record: owners of nearly 750,000 vehicles have covered over 1.2 billion miles with their hands off the wheel. On top of that, hundreds of data-collection vehicles log about a million miles of multi-sensor driving a month, and AutoGuide reports that GM runs roughly three billion miles of simulated driving a day. In those simulations, AI-controlled traffic tries to trip up the driving software in situations like dense highway merges. Anderson also described later steps: autonomy off the highway, and eventually a "mission mode" in which the car runs errands such as a grocery pickup on its own.