Technology
Super Cruise Renewals Run 30-40%: What Cadillac Owners Pay After Year Three
GM's Super Cruise revenue jumped about 60% last quarter, yet only 30% to 40% of owners pay to keep it after the included three years. Here is what renewal costs.
Super Cruise is growing fast as a business, but most owners stop paying for it once the free years run out. Reporting third-quarter results on October 20, 2026, General Motors said revenue it recognized from the hands-free driving system rose about 60% from a year earlier, and that it expects more than 850,000 Super Cruise subscriptions by the end of the year. GM also said, as reported by GM Authority, that only 30% to 40% of owners keep the service once the three years included with the car are over.
For Cadillac, where Super Cruise made its debut, that ratio is the number to watch. It shows how many owners decide the system is worth a monthly bill once it stops being free.
The numbers GM shared
- Revenue: Super Cruise is on track for about $400 million in 2026, according to GM Authority. Together, OnStar and Super Cruise brought in more than $800 million of recognized revenue in the quarter, up 15%.
- Deliveries: GM sold about 83,000 vehicles with Super Cruise in the third quarter and more than 243,000 so far this year.
- Fleet size: CEO Mary Barra told analysts that GM expects about one million Super Cruise-equipped vehicles on the road by year-end, and that she sees that base growing by close to 50% next year.
- Usage: Barra said nearly 70% of owners use the system at least once a month, and that equipped vehicles together cover well over a million hands-free miles every day.
- Where growth comes from: Barra pointed to pickups. Super Cruise becomes standard on high-end 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trims and optional on most others, and GM expects its share of the truck lineup to grow four to five times in 2027.
Which Cadillacs have it
Cadillac introduced Super Cruise on the CT6, and OnStar's eligibility list goes back to the 2018 model. Among current models, the list includes the 2026 and 2027 Lyriq, Optiq, Vistiq, Escalade IQ, Escalade IQL, Escalade and Escalade ESV, plus the 2026 CT5 and Celestiq. Earlier cars on the list include the CT4 from 2021 to 2026, the CT5 from 2021 to 2025 and the XT6 from 2022 to 2025.
That means many Cadillac owners, especially those with a 2023 or older model, are near the end of the included period or already past it.
What it costs after year three
Super Cruise is not a feature that keeps working on its own. It relies on a live data connection for precise positioning and regular map updates, and OnStar states that an active, eligible plan is required to use it. Every equipped vehicle comes with three years of OnStar One, the plan that bundles all OnStar services, to cover this. After that, the owner has to buy a plan to keep hands-free driving.
OnStar's website lists a stand-alone Super Cruise plan starting at $39.99 a month or $399 a year. Super Cruise can also be kept by paying for OnStar One itself. OnStar says the system now works on more than 630,000 miles of compatible roads in North America.
Owner brief
What it means for owners
- Know your end date. Check your OnStar account for when the included plan expires, so hands-free driving does not stop working in the middle of a road trip.
- Do the math on billing. Paying yearly at $399 costs about $81 less than twelve months at $39.99. If you only use Super Cruise on a few long trips a year, paying monthly for just those months may cost less.
- Count it in a used purchase. On a used Cadillac with Super Cruise, ask whether any included time remains. If it does not, budget for a plan from the first day you own the car.
- Consider how you drive. The system only works on compatible mapped roads, mostly highways. If most of your miles are in town, a plan may not pay for itself.
Dashbird tipDashbird trip logs show how often you make the long highway drives where Super Cruise helps most, which makes the choice between a monthly and a yearly plan easier.
