2022 Cadillac Escalade drops hands-free Super Cruise system amid chip shortage
Cadillac confirmed the Level 2 hands-free driver-assist system is not available, at least for now.
Like a half-filled bag of salty snacks, there simply aren't enough semiconductor chips to go around these days. At General Motors, the crisis struck one of its biggest cash cows as Cadillac confirmed too few chips led it to scrap the Super Cruise feature from its flagship Escalade SUV.
Motor1 first reported the news Tuesday evening and a Cadillac spokesperson told Roadshow in a statement Wednesday, "Super Cruise is an important feature for the Cadillac Escalade program. Although it's temporarily unavailable at the start of regular production due to the industry-wide shortage of semiconductors, we're confident in our team's ability to find creative solutions to mitigate the supply chain situation and resume offering the feature for our customers as soon as possible."
As for the CT4 and CT5 -- the next two cars set to receive the hands-free highway driving system -- Cadillac said it built "a few" of the sedans with Super Cruise. "The semiconductor shortage resulted in us postponing the full launch of Super Cruise in our sedans until model year 2022," a spokesperson said. "Now, the 2022 CT4s and CT5s will be available with Super Cruise in the first half of next year."
Essentially, Super Cruise is unavailable across GM's entire lineup of cars. The Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV were also meant to start shipping with the system by now, though production halted amid a battery fire recall and replacement campaign.
Super Cruise first launched on the now-defunct flagship Cadillac sedan, the CT6, before it made its way to the Escalade for the latest-generation model. GM has big plans for the driving-assistant as long as the chip crisis doesn't continue to get in the way. It should make its way to the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado before expanding further outside of the Cadillac lineup.
