GM just revealed 2 AI updates coming to its cars (www.businessinsider.com)

GM announced two major AI upgrades for its vehicles: an “eyes-off” highway driving mode coming to the electric Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028, and integration of Google Gemini–powered conversational AI as soon as next year. The eyes-off feature—active only on highways when a turquoise dashboard/mirror indicator confirms engagement—lets drivers read or reply to messages while the car handles driving, and it relies on LiDAR (laser-based range sensing) to build precise 3D maps of the environment. GM frames this as the next step on its autonomy roadmap, targeting high-impact, monotonous commutes first. Technically and strategically, the moves matter because they combine a LiDAR-centric sensor stack (similar to Waymo) with large-model conversational capabilities (Google Gemini) and GM’s own vehicle AI for maintenance, route planning, parking coaching, and anomaly detection. The announcements signal GM’s bet on sensor-rich autonomy versus Tesla’s camera-only approach, with attendant regulatory, validation and cost implications for safety and consumer trust. GM also noted cobots for assembly plants, underscoring a broader push to embed AI across manufacturing and in-vehicle experiences. For the AI/ML community, this highlights continued convergence of perception stacks, large multimodal models, edge/cloud integration, and operational safety engineering in production automotive systems.