When it comes to driving on the highway, it can be a bit of a slog, can't it? The miles, the cars on the road, the time it takes to go from A to B. It's easy for drivers to become distracted or even drowsy staring down the road for hours at a time. This can be especially dangerous when towing a heavy payload. Many automakers have come up with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to help drivers with numerous tasks, but towing may not be one of them. Besides, most of them rely on driver input and the surrounding environment. It sounds a lot like an advanced version of cruise control, which we already have.
Many modern vehicles (60% in 2023), come with adaptive cruise control. So, let's go over cruise control for a moment. Cruise control is a feature first introduced by Chrysler in 1958 for the Chrysler Imperial. Designed to help drivers maintain their speed on long drives, many drivers can find the controls on a stalk attached to the steering column, or more commonly, as buttons on the steering wheel. Adaptive cruise control does all this and more by automatically slowing down the car and speeding it back up again based on your surroundings.
This begs the question: can you use cruise control when towing? Simply put, yes, you can. And you don't need some fancy adaptive cruise control or ADAS system, although it can help, as Chevy's Super Cruise seems to take some stress out of towing.
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Now, let's bring this back to using cruise control with towing. The truth is, most cruise control systems can't tell the difference. This is because, as mentioned, cruise control is maintaining the speed of the vehicle, not the load it's hauling. Even the most primitive of cruise control systems can cope for a change in weight and how that affects driving. Then, there are the many advanced systems popping up that can actually sense when a trailer has been connected, and will adjust how the system functions based on the added weight. This makes it easy for drivers to use cruise control when towing.
Since we mentioned it, let's talk about it. GM's Super Cruise is the system truck drivers will want if they're driving long hours and towing a heavy payload. Utilizing a collection of cameras, sensors, GPS, and high-definition maps, Super Cruise offers a hands-free driving experience when towing a trailer. That's just wild.
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