Americans logged roughly 95 billion hours behind the wheel last year, covering about 2.76 trillion miles. At the GM Forward event in New York City, General Motors executives outlined a vision that does not seek to cut that mileage, but to make the time spent in vehicles more useful. Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson told WIRED that the goal is to “make it more productive, make it more relaxing, make it more engaging,” and to turn the car into a more central, more useful part of daily life. In his view, the future vehicle will act like a personal assistant, a partner, a tool and a friend all at once.
To move toward that future, GM announced a series of AI‑driven initiatives. The company will introduce an in‑car AI assistant called OnStar AI, beginning with the 2027 Cadillac Lyriq. The name builds on the long‑standing roadside‑assistance service that now has 12 million subscribers. Paired with a new app, the assistant will initially let drivers control functions such as the air‑conditioning with voice commands, eliminating the need to scroll through menus. Anderson said the system could eventually coordinate child‑care pickups and drop‑offs based on which spouse’s vehicle is closer.
GM also plans to use artificial intelligence to accelerate vehicle development, aiming to halve the typical four‑ to five‑year cycle that Chinese manufacturers currently achieve. The automaker will expand its “eyes‑off” highway‑driving technology to its most popular models, moving closer to its long‑standing promise of a personal self‑driving car. The company previously said the technology would appear in the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. Today, GM’s Super Cruise feature already allows drivers to remove their hands from the wheel on hundreds of thousands of miles of pre‑mapped highways. Anderson cautioned that the industry is full of unkept promises and that GM does not intend to overstate its progress.
Unlike Tesla, which markets a “Full Self‑Driving (Supervised)” system that can navigate many roads but still requires the driver to stay alert, Anderson argued that such a setup creates an illusion of autonomy without delivering its benefits. He said that if drivers cannot attend to other tasks while the car handles most of the driving, the system is less useful and raises safety concerns. “That would not be a responsible way to operate,” he said.
GM’s approach is to gradually broaden “eyes‑off” capabilities, first allowing drivers to send texts, eat or watch videos on certain highways, then on more highways, then on local roads, and eventually perhaps everywhere. In a recent blog post the company described the cabin as a space to “relax, work, and unwind.” Over time, GM envisions a vehicle that can run everyday errands, pick up groceries, drop off children and even locate a parking spot at the destination.
Urban planners have warned that making car trips cheaper in both money and time could lead to more vehicles on the road, with occupants sleeping, emailing or streaming while the car drives itself, potentially encouraging further sprawl. Anderson acknowledged that cheap, personal driving robots would likely increase road traffic and raise societal and infrastructure questions. He argued, however, that the transition will not happen overnight and that cities have time to adapt. “I wouldn’t call this an imminent thing, but it certainly is something we should be thinking about,” he concluded.