GM launched a test fleet of 200 autonomous vehicles in California and Michigan that will operate without input from the driver. The vehicles will all have human drivers behind the wheel ready to intervene.The plan is to offer the system for public sale by 2028.GM launched a test fleet of 200 vehicles capable of operating without the driver’s eyes on the road nor hands on the wheel. “This week, our next-generation automated tech, trained on millions of real-world miles and stress-tested millions of times in simulated scenarios, begins supervised public-road testing on limited-access highways across California and Michigan,” the General said yesterday. Don’t freak out just yet. At least not completely. “Each vehicle will operate with a trained test driver at the wheel capable of taking manual control at any time,” GM said. “This marks a significant transition from manual data collection to active automated technology testing on public roads.”Nowhere in the release did GM use the term Level 3 Driving, but it sounds similar to what Mercedes-Benz is offering on certain stretches of highly mapped highways and in certain low-speed traffic-jam situations. However, no speed limit was mentioned in the release, which leaves one open to speculate that it can be used at regular highway speeds. GM Driverless TechThis is the next step after GM announced last year that it would introduce what it called “eyes-off driving,” which it says is a self‑driving system in its domain that is “not dependent on continuous driver vigilance for safety.” It plans to launch the new system to the public in 2028 in the Cadillac Escalade IQ, followed by “additional gas and electric vehicles.” The system will launch on highways first and then driveway to driveway, GM said.Another reason GM might have left out the Level 3 title to its system is that driveway-to-driveway feature. Does that mean Level 4? But that’s just speculation at this point. Level 3 allows drivers to remove their hands from the steering wheel and their eyes from the road, according to SAE, the Society of Automotive Engineers, which sets the standards. Here are SAE’s standards for automated driving:- Level 0: No Driving Automation- Level 1: Driver Assistance- Level 2: Partial Driving Automation- Level 3: Conditional Driving Automation- Level 4: High Driving Automation- Level 5: Full Driving Automation SAE calls Level 3 a “Traffic Jam Chauffeur,” noting that if the system requires it, you must take the wheel. Levels 4 and 5 do not require you to take the wheel. Think of a Waymo.We asked GM for a clarification on which SAE Level this might be and GM said:"Our system will be designed to drive itself within its defined operational domain and manage automated highway driving without relying on a vigilant driver for safety. While the system will not align perfectly with the SAE Level definitions, the product intent is Level 4 performance within its operational domain."Whatever the level, the GM system sounds promising. Mercedes currently leads the field with deployment of its Drive Pilot Level 3 on certain highways in California and Nevada, allowing drivers to read a book or play video games in certain traffic-jam situations. Coming late this year is MB.Drive Assist Pro, which Benz calls Level 2++ that handles point-to-point automated driving in cities. We got a ride in that a few months ago in San Francisco, and it worked as advertised. BMW has BMW Personal Pilot L3 on certain 7-Series in the home market but not here. The company has said it will drop it before the redesign of the 7-Series, as early as July. Honda Sensing Elite has driven Honda Legends in Japan since 2021. GM will implement its system in 2028 on the Cadillac Escalade IQ electric SUV. Ford said at CES this year that it also plans to launch a Level 3 partially autonomous system in 2028. Ford told Automotive News that it will roll out new hardware and software for the current BlueCruise Level 2 system beginning in 2027 on the automaker’s Universal EV Platform, which is expected to launch that same year with a $30,000 mid-size electric pickup. In 2028, Ford plans to deploy its Level 3 eyes-off system.After that: jet packs and x-ray specs!