Super Cruise Ruined My 2,000-Mile Silverado Review, Because I Only Drove 5% of the Time

This winter, Chevrolet let me borrow a 2026 Silverado High Country for an epic ski trip. The winter storms struggled, though, so I wound up chasing the dregs of snow at Steamboat, Powder Mountain, and Aspen.

And in truth, a review of the Silverado High Country itself almost became silly. Despite covering 2,289 miles over two weeks, I probably drove the car only 5% of the time.

Instead, this trip provided me with a great opportunity to live with GM’s Super Cruise hands-free driving. I had used Super Cruise on press trips before, but never on a legit road trip of this length.

Admittedly, I’ve been a fan of this Silverado generation previously, ever since I tested the ZR2 way back in 2022. I do prefer the 3.0L turbodiesel engine, but it’s still nice to know the Silverado can come with a big gasoline V8, real 4WD, and an auto locking rear diff.

So, I packed up gear in the backseat, threw skis in the bed, and hit the road out of L.A. Hoping for snow the whole time, of course, as much for my ski days as to test the Silverado High Country in truly high country. Plus, to see how Super Cruise handles real winter weather driving.

In short: Over a 2,289-mile road trip chasing powder this winter, Super Cruise handled around 95% of driving duties. The system worked shockingly well most of the time, partially due to the sheer lack of snow in the Western U.S. I still took over control regularly in varying scenarios, revealing the many limitations that still exist for autonomous software. If I were buying a new Chevrolet — or any GM vehicle — I would definitely pay the money for Super Cruise.

2026 Chevrolet Silverado High Country V8 With Super Cruise Review

The High Country trim stands out as a more luxurious trim catering to city slickers—or at least anyone who doesn’t plan to do any off-roading or serious winter living. Namely, this was thanks to my tester’s optional 22-inch wheels, which came shod in not-quite-the-greatest rubber: a set of Bridgestone Alenza A/S 02 tires. These would technically be illegal if I hit a big storm in the mountains of Utah or Colorado.

At least a set of nice all-weather floor mats fit into the mix. So I didn’t need to worry so much about tracking winter filth into the truck. I also love a set of ventilated seats. Plus, for a long winter road trip, the ability to choose between heating the full seat or just the seatback is so nice. I was surprised the High Country doesn’t come with GMC’s excellent massagers, though.

But plenty of other expected tech made the drive fairly seamless. Wireless Apple CarPlay connected almost every time. Bose speakers bumped my tunes. A digital rearview mirror helped with visibility. And most importantly for my planned 2,000-mile route: Super Cruise.

I switched on Super Cruise immediately once I got onto the 405 freeway, leaving Los Angeles. The goal? Simply to max out how much time the Silverado drove itself. But actually doing so required a bit of a learning curve. I needed to practice lane changes, figure out following distances to other cars, and predict when lanes might end.

Headed East 

Surprisingly, once I got out to the Antelope Valley, Super Cruise still worked well — even on small, rural two-lane roads cutting across toward Victorville. I felt excited about the coming 2 weeks, most of which would take place on large interstate freeways. If the weather cooperated, though, the route included plenty of mountain driving, too.

At Victorville, I turned north on the 15 freeway toward Las Vegas. The system worked as expected, only switching off a few times going through Vegas proper and in construction zones.

Super Cruise

Activating Super Cruise is easy. A symbol appears at the upper right of the gauge cluster when it’s available. If so, push a button on the steering wheel. Then the light bar on the top of the steering wheel turns blue, while the system registers lane position, road information, and the driver eye-tracking camera. This takes 3-5 seconds, usually. When the light bar turns green, Super Cruise has taken control.

Super Cruise turns off if the camera notices driver inattention for too long. I played with this, turning my head but still looking forward. Or closing my eyes on open sections of road. Or using my phone, covering just one eye, etc. It’s a fairly intelligent system, and warnings typically come within 15-20 seconds, via a buzz in the seat and a blinking green bar on the steering wheel.

Into the Hills of Utah and Colorado

I mostly paid attention to the road. But I quickly learned how to trick the camera by holding my phone right in front of the steering wheel. Why have Super Cruise if you can’t text, check emails, or doomscroll?

Sometimes my sunglasses seemed to create glare that freaked out the computer. And a few sketchy moments arrived that first long day, too, mostly when semi trucks tended to drift into my lane a bit. A common occurrence, of course, but I would usually scoot over to allow more space for safety. Super Cruise just kept on truckin’ instead, even through the twisties in the Virgin River Gorge.

I arrived at a cheap motel in Beaver, Utah, for the night. After more than 7 hours of “driving” so far, I felt surprisingly fresh. Super Cruise helps to reduce mental strain, I believe.

After a good night’s sleep, I pulled out early the next morning to hit Steamboat by mid-afternoon. This day showed off Super Cruise best, north on the 15 for a bit, and then the long, straight east route across Utah and Colorado on the 70 freeway.

I spent maybe 2 minutes leaving Beaver with my hands on the wheel, and then maybe 15 seconds on the interchange from the 15 to the 70, and then another 2 minutes stopping for gas in Green River. Otherwise, Super Cruise drove all the way well into the Rocky Mountains — probably 369 out of 370 miles.

Top Speed Limited

This stint revealed that Super Cruise caps out at 85 miles per hour, though. Normal adaptive cruise will go as fast as the Silverado can. I may or may not have seen 112 mph, as a test.

But activating Super Cruise drops the set speed to 85, despite the flow of traffic typically going 90 across Utah. Oh well — I figured losing 5 mph or so would be worth it to let Super Cruise take the wheel.

Starting to See Super Cruise’s Limitations

Eventually, in the mountain canyons near Glenwood Springs, Super Cruise started to balk a bit. A “No Road Information” warning popped up on the screen regularly. I mostly expected this to happen, exactly at this location. Steep mountains, tight lanes on the bridges and through the tunnels, nighttime setting in. But whenever it turned off, only a few seconds later, I could turn it back on, which was a bit confusing.

I also started to notice how much the curvy sections played with automatic speed reduction. Signified by a graphic above the set cruise speed, the system sort of randomly chooses how much to slow down — sometimes by 30 mph, sometimes not at all. Sometimes I could put a toe on the throttle pedal to speed up a bit, without Super Cruise deactivating. But sometimes not.

Once the road opened up nearer to Eagle-Vail airport, voilà! Super Cruise ran more smoothly again, which made sense to me, in a way. But then I needed to turn north toward Steamboat on smaller roads. So I figured I might need to take the wheel for the longest section yet.

Initially, on this section of Highway 131, Super Cruise kept working. But by 10 minutes off the 70 freeway, it turned off completely for a solid 30 minutes or so. This wasn’t a bad section for me to drive by any means. No traffic, stunning views, a perfectly sunny day.

Can a Human Drive More Efficiently Than Super Cruise?

One detail I noticed now: the fuel economy quickly started rising with me driving. This is an interesting exercise that one day I want to test in a controlled experiment. Does the computer drive more efficiently than a human?

I believe not, because humans can better predict elevation change and smooth speed increases after corners. But on this day, thinner air at elevation and lower speed limits probably contributed more to my rising mpgs.

After about a half hour, on the high plateau now, Super Cruise became available again. I needed to drop speed quickly anytime I passed through a small town, though. But finally, it turned off just as I entered Steamboat Springs, where I parked for a few days to go skiing.

The snow conditions at Steamboat sucked the first day, but the second day, we got some fresh turns. Which I enjoyed thoroughly, while also wondering how the Silverado would handle the drive back to Utah the next day.

Just 6 or 7 inches on the mountain didn’t mess up the roads enough, though. This meant I could take the smaller highways headed west rather than jumping down to the 70 or up to the 80. Saving time, yes, but what about Super Cruise? No problemo.

For hours, across the long western side of Colorado and eastern Utah on Highway 40, Super Cruise just cruised. I only needed to keep an eye out for the small towns where cops waited to give out speeding tickets.

Then I picked up a few friends at Salt Lake City airport and drove north toward Eden. None of them could believe how much I let Super Cruise drive for me. Even on the pass around Snowbasin Resort toward Powder Mountain, the system kept working.

From Utah to Colorado … Again

Super Cruise didn’t work on the small road up the hill from Eden to the PowMow parking lot. And I did three laps of that 8-mile journey over the course of three icy and then slushy days. Along with the mileage from the 70 north toward Steamboat, this was my longest stint without Super Cruise off the whole trip. But soon enough, I packed up again and hit the road to Aspen.

Once again, going across Utah flew by. I started to get tired after a full day of skiing, and then 7 hours or so of driving. I even stopped for a quick nap, since coffee can only do so much. Super Cruise may well have saved my life along the way, as I struggled to keep my eyes open.

Approaching Glenwood Springs for the second time in 2 weeks tested Super Cruise in an unexpected way. On portions where the “No Road Information” warning popped up the first time, this time around, the Silverado kept driving. Very odd … Still no problem in tunnels, or even through most of the road south toward Aspen in the dark.

Finally, a True Wintry Test

I spent 5 days skiing in Aspen, mostly on crusty iced-out groomers. But the last day, we got a solid 8-10 inches of snow overnight. This wreaked havoc on the airport, but at least I got one epic day in to wrap up my ski season. The whole time on the mountain that day, I wondered how Super Cruise would handle slushy roads headed into Denver.

The next morning, I drove my cousin to the airport at 5 a.m. In the dark, snow on the roads, the Bridgestone tires did just fine. But Super Cruise would not activate, because the car couldn’t find the lane markers. The warning “Sensors Can’t Find Lane Lines” popped up repeatedly.

Once I had packed up and started driving to Denver, much of the road had been cleared. This let the system kick in once again. Especially on the 70 headed east, as I blasted along at top speed, trying to catch a flight to Spain.

Super Cruise even downshifted on the long descent coming out of the Johnson Tunnel. This allowed for engine braking rather than overheating the friction brakes. Excellent work.

It did, however, drive directly over a set of chains that had come off another vehicle. Without even trying to swerve — if I’d been paying better attention, I would have avoided that dangerous obstacle. I spent the next 20 minutes hoping against a tire puncture, and thinking that Super Cruise had lulled me into a bit of a false sense of security. But otherwise, the drive to Denver Airport went easy-peasy.

V8 Fuel Economy Winner

When I dropped off the Silverado High Country, I checked my stats. The V8 reported a respectable 18.7 mpg at an average speed of 56.9 mph. That’s close to but not quite the EPA’s 20 mpg highway rating.

Compared to a GMC Canyon AT4X that I drove round-trip to Mammoth the week before? That truck with the turbo-four averaged below 15 mpg on the highway. Worse than my 1998 Mitsubishi Montero on 33s, no joke. And my friend’s Tundra TRD Pro with the I-Force Max hybrid only gets 16.

Turns out, V8 for the win!

2026 Silverado High Country With Super Cruise Review: Conclusions

More importantly, I had traveled 2,289.1 miles from my house in Los Angeles. By my math, Super Cruise took control for at least 2,160 of those miles. Which means I only drove just over 5% of the time. And most of the time, very smoothly and capably. Impressive!

The High Country made most of that time quite comfortable, too. But the price does get steep pretty quickly. This truck stickered for $79,815 with options, over a $66,400 starting price. That includes $7,650 for the “High Country Premium II Super Cruise Package.” But strangely, also a $1,000 discount on that package, too.

For me, I still think GM’s small-displacement diesel is the best engine in the lineup. It only weighs a bit more than the V8 but pumps out so much torque and gets superior fuel economy. If not towing, anyhow, when it does suck up DEF at an absurd rate, in my experience.

I’d call Super Cruise a road trip cheat code. It made 2,000 miles feel more like 200. At least, once I adjusted to some of the stranger moments and behavior of the programming. By the end of the trip, I could easily predict when the system would turn off. Especially in wintry weather, those were situations where I’d rather take control anyway.

The old joke says that 90% of drivers think they’re in the top 10% of drivers. After putting nearly 2,300 miles on this Silverado in 2 weeks, and letting the computer drive as much as possible, I can confidently say Super Cruise is better than 95% of drivers, 95% of the time. Now, if only it came on the ZR2 package.