General Motors is revamping the core electronics and computing systems in its upcoming vehicles to enable quicker software, enhanced automated driving capabilities, and a personalized, conversational AI assistant.
This transformation will make its first appearance in 2027 with the Cadillac Escalade IQ.
The American carmaker, which revealed these plans during an event in New York City on Wednesday, announced that a new electric framework and centralized computing system will serve as the backbone for all its future gasoline and electric vehicles, beginning in 2028. The next-gen supercomputer, Nvidia Drive AGX Thor, will drive this computing unit, stemming from an expanded collaboration between GM and Nvidia that was revealed in March.
This major internal upgrade is essential for GM to introduce new services and features, such as a conversational AI assistant or technology that lets a vehicle safely drive on highways while the driver watches a film—two innovations GM is developing for future models. It will also allow GM to enhance vehicle performance, resolve issues, or add new infotainment features through software updates—capabilities that will help it better compete with Tesla and the growing presence of Chinese automakers.
Sterling Anderson, GM’s Chief Product Officer, said that since joining the company in May, he has prioritized speeding up the deployment of this new system because it offers significant benefits, such as increased bandwidth and a substantial boost in computing power. This effort is part of his broader mission to deliver advanced technology to customers more rapidly.
“Looking ahead, my main focus for the core business has been on speed, product user experience, and profitability,” Anderson shared with TechCrunch. “We’re examining the company to find ways to drastically shorten the development cycle for our vehicle platforms. Currently, it takes about four to five years. I want to bring that closer to two.”
Today’s vehicles—including GM’s Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC brands—contain dozens of small computers that manage everything from entertainment and safety to propulsion, steering, and braking. The number of these electronic control units (ECUs) has grown over the last decade as automakers have added more features. Tesla, which built its vehicles with a software-first mindset, surpassed traditional brands by offering greater computing power and the ability to deliver new features and performance improvements via wireless updates, much like smartphones.
Traditional automakers have invested years and billions of dollars to close this gap.
There is broad consensus in the industry that part of the answer is to redesign the underlying hardware to support the increasing computational demands of infotainment, safety, and automated driving technologies.
GM is adopting a strategy similar to, but not exactly the same as, the zonal architectures used by Tesla and Rivian. The company plans to merge dozens of ECUs into a single computing core that will manage all vehicle subsystems in real time. This core will link to three aggregators—hubs that translate signals from hundreds of sensors into a unified digital format and send commands back to the appropriate hardware.
In short, the centralized computing system will link every vehicle function—including propulsion, steering, brakes, infotainment, and safety—using a high-speed Ethernet network.
GM describes this initiative as a “complete rethinking” of how its vehicles are engineered, updated, and enhanced over time. According to GM, the outcome will be cars with ten times the capacity for over-the-air software updates, a thousandfold increase in bandwidth, and up to 35 times more AI processing power for autonomy and advanced features.
GM has been moving toward this software-driven, reimagined vehicle concept for several years.
In 2020, the company introduced the Vehicle Intelligence Platform (VIP), a new hardware system designed for greater data processing and over-the-air updates. The next year, GM launched Ultifi, a cloud-based, end-to-end software platform that executives said would make vehicles more versatile and allow drivers to access in-car subscriptions and new apps through wireless updates. Although the Ultifi name is no longer used, its software continues to run on GM’s latest models atop the VIP architecture. In 2022, GM furthered its software-focused approach by consolidating multiple infotainment computers into a single platform.
GM says this newest step builds upon all these previous efforts.
