GM’s Hands-Free Trailering lets drivers tow without keeping their hands on the wheel, handling everything from a sub-1,000-pound rental trailer to a 10,000-pound camper — and it remains available only with Super Cruise. General Motors introduced Super Cruise in 2017 as the industry’s first true hands-free driver assistance system and added trailering capability to it in 2022. The company says the vehicle determines a hitched trailer’s weight on its own, then adjusts acceleration, braking, and steering to match. Hands-Free Trailering debuted on the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, GMC Sierra 1500, and GMC HUMMER EV Pickup.
Highlights
- Hands-Free Trailering is exclusive to Super Cruise, which GM launched in 2017 and extended to trailering in 2022.
- The feature debuted on the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, GMC Sierra 1500, and GMC HUMMER EV Pickup.
- The vehicle estimates a trailer’s weight automatically using an F=MA (force equals mass times acceleration) calculation and refines the figure over time.
- The system covers trailers from under 1,000 pounds to roughly 10,000 pounds.
What Hands-Free Trailering Has to Manage
Towing reshapes how a vehicle behaves: braking distances lengthen, maneuverability tightens, and acceleration slows. Super Cruise, GM’s hands-free driver assistance system, is built to absorb those changes without driver input on the wheel.
Setup is automatic. The system is ready as soon as the driver plugs in the trailer’s electrical connector. If the trailer has no electrical connection, the vehicle’s sensors detect its presence and adjust Super Cruise accordingly.
How Does the System Learn a Trailer’s Weight?
The weight calculation rests on a basic physics equation: force equals mass times acceleration.
“When the vehicle starts pulling away, we have an algorithm that starts running F=MA equations,” explains Matt Kempeinen, one of the engineers who made Hands-Free Trailering with Super Cruise a reality. “If you calculate the drive force and observe the acceleration, you can determine the mass of the object you’re moving.”
Without any driver input, the vehicle learns the weight of the trailer behind it. That figure matters because trailer weight affects acceleration, braking, and handling — a heavier trailer demands more torque at the wheels and extends braking distances. According to Kempeinen, the vehicle produces a weight estimate quickly and keeps refining it over time.
Adapting Steering and Handling
Beyond acceleration and braking, the system has to account for how a trailer changes the way the vehicle takes corners. Kempeinen’s team developed functionality within Super Cruise that weighs road, tire, and environmental conditions to judge how much steering input is needed at any moment. With a trailer hitched, handling shifts substantially, so the system recalibrates its steering.
“The algorithm has to be capable of detecting changes in vehicle and trailer dynamics so that it can adapt to keep control consistent,” Kempeinen says.
A capable GM vehicle stores separate Super Cruise settings for driving with and without a trailer. When a customer reconnects a trailer they have towed before, the system does not start from scratch, though it continues adjusting throughout the drive.
Which GM Vehicles Offer It
Hands-Free Trailering is now available across a range of GM models equipped with Super Cruise:
- Buick: Enclave
- Cadillac: Escalade/Escalade ESV, Escalade IQ/IQL, Optiq, Lyriq, Vistiq
- Chevrolet: Blazer EV, Equinox EV, Silverado 1500, Silverado EV, Suburban, Tahoe, Traverse
- GMC: Acadia, HUMMER EV Pickup, HUMMER EV SUV, Sierra 1500, Sierra EV, Yukon/Yukon XL
Still a GM Exclusive
Hands-Free Trailering remains unique to GM, and Kempeinen says the engineering work continues. “It’s been an evolution of continuously raising the bar on the performance side while also expanding availability, map coverage, and getting it out to the world across different regions,” he says. “It’s nonstop.”
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