GMC’s video promises we’ll see the Hummer EV this fall and be able to reserve one then, with production starting about a year later. In another section of the video, we see a pre-production model truck with the hood lifted, exposing a front trunk that should be easy to load, and will add to the capacity of that short bed.

GMC

The teaser also flashes text with some of the features we can expect, including the Ultium battery that GM is planning its future around. Accordingly, GM provided an update on progress of the plant in Lordstown, OH that it’s building as a joint venture with LG Chem, saying that it’s on schedule. Ultium Cells LLC will eventually produce batteries for the Hummer EV and Cadillac’s Lyriq, which will be unveiled next week on August 6th.

Other features include an infinity roof and sky panels, which again bring to mind the Bronco we just saw, as well as “super fast charging, nest gen Super Cruise, ultra vision cameras, crab mode and adrenaline mode.” We’ll probably find out what all of that means sometime in the next couple of months.

A new feature in Ford vehicles, hands-free driving on divided highways will be available as Active Drive Assist, which includes a driver-facing camera that makes sure you’re paying attention as the car maneuvers itself. Producing the package hardware-first and saying customers will be able to get the rest in a future software update resembles Tesla’s Autopilot / Full Self-Driving promises, and while Ford doesn’t go that far, it does claim there’s “the potential for more enhancements in the future.”

As long as your trip on the 100,000 miles or so of mapped highways supported across the US and Canada, then drivers can sit back with their hands off the wheel, instead of needing to keep them there as is the case with lane-keeping technology and adaptive cruise control. GM Super Cruise tech brought a similar feature to Cadillacs a few years ago and the company is now working on an “Ultra Cruise” that supports city streets. Ford’s drive assist can respond to obstacles by stopping, or change lanes and continue on to evade a potential collision.

Ford

According to Ford’s chief product development and purchasing officer Hau Thai-Tang, “By introducing driver assist technologies like Active Drive Assist, Ford’s version of hands-free driving, we’re allowing our customers to feel more confident whenever they’re behind the wheel.” The company said it tested the system with “the mother of all road trips,” covering all kinds of traffic and weather conditions to make sure its sensors would operate consistently no matter what you’re driving through.

Other vehicles will also get Active Drive Assist features and upgraded Co-Pilot360 tech in the 2021 model year, although those packages may vary by model. In the Mach-E, the Co-Pilot360 2.0 standard package’s lane-keeping system will include Road Edge Detection that can alert a driver if their car is drifting over a line or onto the dirt and Blind-Spot assist. Its adaptive cruise control can get the car moving again after coming to a complete stop for as long as thirty seconds — the previous system needed to be reactivated manually if the car stopped for over three seconds. It’s also adding an intersection assist that will apply the brakes if it detects an oncoming vehicle when you’re making a left turn across traffic.

Ford

GM’s Super Cruise, the automaker’s hands-free driving assistance feature, currently only works on highways. But according to one of its executives (as reported by Autoblog), the company is working to expand its capabilities so that it could also provide a hands-free driving experience on city streets, making it more of a rival to Tesla’s Autopilot. GM’s VP of global product development Doug Parks announced that a separate team is developing the capability dubbed “Ultra Cruise” at the online Citi 2020 Car of the Future Symposium.

“We’re trying to take that same capability off the highway. Ultra Cruise would be all of the Super Cruise plus the neighborhoods, city streets and subdivisions. So Ultra Cruise’s domain would be essentially all driving, all the time,” he said. The exec clarified that Ultra Cruise isn’t autonomous driving — a driver still has to keep an eye on the road and take over whenever needed. He explained: “What we’re not saying is that Ultra Cruise will be fully autonomous 100% of the time, although that could be one of the end games.”

GM had already outlined plans to deploy Super Cruise on all Cadillac models and other brands sometime in 2021, but hadn’t given numbers like this.

While it’s a significant expansion, GM is still being relatively conservative. Super Cruise only allows semi-autonomous driving on specified highways in North America where Tesla’s Autopilot works on many roads with the prospect of full self-driving at some point in the future. Greater autonomy will have to wait for vehicles like the Cruise Origin shuttle. GM might not be in a rush, though. Tesla has sometimes been accused of moving too quickly with Autopilot, and the technology has been blamed for some crashes. GM may be happy to move slowly if it avoids safety problems and does more to protect its reputation.

Autoblog reports that it’s getting a new independent rear suspension setup that’s largely shared with the new Tahoe and Yukon, and although the interior is revamped for Cadillac’s truck, it also shares those trucks’ optional 12.6-inch touchscreens for passengers in the second row.

Other than the plush appointments, one option is the first AKG speaker system designed for a vehicle, which features 36 speakers powered by three amplifiers. Other tech enhancements with the high-end system include embedded microphones that help front and rear passengers hear each other, audio prompts for navigation that come from the left or right depending on which way you need to turn, and independent volume control for each front seat.

One other optional feature is the soft-close doors — an electric motor pulls the doors closed so you’ll never hear a hard door slam again. One thing that’s not shown in the pictures is its augmented reality navigation. According to Cadillac, “A live street view in front of the vehicle is projected on the cluster display with turn indicators and other directional information overlaid on the scene.”

There are five trim levels for the new Escalade,in Luxury, Premium Luxury, Platinum Luxury, Sport and Platinum Sports. All of them include bits like the OLED screens, NFC, wireless charging and five USB ports — two USB-A and three USB-C. The new SUV will go on sale later this year.