For more than a century, driving has come with one rule that has never changed: Whoever sits behind the wheel has to keep their hands on the wheel.
Lane-keeping systems have loosened the requirement slightly, and hands-free features now allow some drivers to take their hands off the wheel on certain highways.
Eyes still have to stay up front because if you look down at, say, a phone for too long, the car starts beeping at you.
That last barrier is the one automakers have struggled to clear. In the U.S., only one system that lets drivers look away from the road is on sale right now, and it works on a limited set of mapped highways.
General Motors (GM) says it is getting close to joining that club. CEO Mary Barra told CNBC on Monday, Oct. 12, that GM is making “leaps and bounds” toward eyes-off, hands-off driving, with a launch planned for 2028.
If GM delivers, owners of the electric Cadillac Escalade IQ will be able to read and answer texts on the highway while the car drives itself.
How GM’s eyes-off driving system is supposed to work
GM first laid out the plan at its GM Forward event in New York in October 2025, TechCrunch reported.
Here is what the company has said about the system so far:
- First vehicle: the 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ
- Sensors: a mix of lidar, radar and cameras
- Where it works: highways at first, including ones GM has not mapped
- When drivers step in: for situations such as exiting the highway
- The brains: AI models from GM’s former Cruise unit, trained on five million driverless miles
Drivers will be able to “read or respond to texts” while the vehicle handles the drive, Business Insider reported at the time. Turquoise lights on the dashboard and side mirrors will show when the system is in control.
GM is starting with highway driving “because that’s where autonomous technology delivers the greatest immediate impact,” Sterling Anderson, GM’s chief product officer, said at the 2025 event, Business Insider reported.
Related: Top analyst strongly resets General Motors target before earnings
Barra painted a bigger picture at the same event. She described a future in which your car takes you to work while you “catch up on work, send emails, or watch an episode of your favorite show,” Business Insider reported.
GM also said it would bring Google’s Gemini AI assistant into its vehicles as soon as 2026, so drivers can send messages and plan routes by voice, according to Business Insider.
Mary Barra’s 2028 promise follows a costly robotaxi retreat
GM’s road to this point has not been smooth. The company pulled the plug on its Cruise robotaxi business in December 2024 after investing more than $10 billion in it.
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Instead of chasing driverless taxis, GM turned toward technology it can sell to people who own their cars. Its hands-free Super Cruise system, launched in 2017, was available on 23 models and about 600,000 miles of highway as of October 2025, TechCrunch reported.
Barra has also grown more careful about timelines. “I’m done making predictions,” she told Fortune in an interview published on Oct. 2.
In the same interview, she still pointed to 2028 for eyes-off highway driving on the Escalade IQ. “And that will be the start of then getting to full autonomy,” Barra said, Fortune reported.
Barra quit making predictions, then set a date anyway
I find the tension here useful for investors. A CEO who says she is done making predictions is still putting a model year on eyes-off driving, which tells me GM is confident about the hardware and the timeline.
The competitive field explains why that date matters:
- Mercedes-Benz offers Drive Pilot, the only commercially available eyes-off system in the U.S., limited to certain mapped highways in California and Nevada, according to TechCrunch.
- Stellantis put its own Level 3 launch on hold, TechCrunch reported.
- Tesla and Waymo are pursuing driverless approaches, with Waymo focused on robotaxis rather than cars you buy.
If you are shopping for a car with driver assistance before 2028, it helps to know what you are actually getting:
- Hands-free systems such as Super Cruise let you take your hands off the wheel on approved roads, but you still have to watch the road.
- Eyes-off systems such as Drive Pilot let you look away in limited conditions, and the car will ask you to take over when it reaches its limits.
- Coverage matters. Check whether a system’s approved roads include the highways you drive most.
A system that works on unmapped highways would give GM a selling point over Mercedes. It would also give Cadillac a reason for buyers to pay luxury prices for an EV at a time when EV demand has cooled.
GM stock and Cadillac buyers face a 2028 waiting game
GM shares were around $82.37 when GuruFocus reported Barra’s comments on Oct. 12. For shareholders, the bigger payoff is software: features like Super Cruise create subscription revenue that keeps flowing after the car is sold.
For drivers, the practical message is patience. Nothing changes until the 2028 Escalade IQ arrives, and the first version will only work on highways.
The broader EV backdrop has also shifted. Automakers once expected 40% to 50% of their vehicles to be electric by 2030, but the Trump administration unwound key EV incentives and rules, and buyers have adopted EVs more slowly than expected, Fortune reported.
Barra still says EVs are the destination. “We still think EVs are the endgame,” she told Fortune, and eyes-off driving is now one of GM’s strongest arguments for getting buyers there.
Related: Waymo is bringing driverless taxis to a fourth country
