The Laser Maps Behind Cadillac’s Superb Self-Driving Skills

As you drive to Berkeley from San Francisco, the constrained lanes of the Bay Bridge touch down on land, then split apart onto different highways, like sticks of spaghetti sliding from the box into the pot of boiling water.

I’m about to reach this tangle of intersecting freeways, and about a mile before, I see the light bar in the top of the steering wheel go from green to red, and feel a sharp buzz in my chair. “Super Cruise disengaging,” I read on the dashboard. “Take back control.” Exasperated, I plop my hands on the steering wheel and return my eyes to the road full time, navigating the next few miles of highway old-fashioned-style until I hit my exit.

The Cadillac foresaw this moment, and it didn’t have much confidence in its ability to navigate the great divide. That’s why, with plenty of warning, it turned off Super Cruise.