Chevrolet’s three-row midsize SUV is getting a complete overhaul for the new model year. The ground-up redesign includes new exterior styling features and a redesigned interior with more storage solutions. But looking at the 2024 Chevy Traverse vs 2023 Chevy Traverse, one of the biggest changes is the amount of tech onboard. Not only does the 2024 Traverse have several all-new tech features to mark the start of the next generation, but it has also made several features that used to be optional standard across all trims and upgraded existing features to make them bigger and better.
Technology has become more and more important to the driving experience in recent years, as cutting-edge features have worked their way into not just entertainment but safety and convenience as well. While transitions to new technologies often happen gradually, the Traverse is taking a big leap from the 2023 model year to this all-new version. Let’s take a look at what tech has changed and what’s being added.
Gear Shifter
We’ll start out with something that’s small but can make a difference in the day-to-day driving experience. Instead of a traditional gear shift located between the driver and the front passenger, the new Traverse has an electronic transmission shifter. Because it’s electronic, it doesn’t take up as much space, so instead of taking up a significant amount of real estate in the center console, it’s been moved to the steering wheel column. This leaves more space for storage that’s upfront and easy for the driver to access.
Power-Folding & Power Lifting
One of the advantages of choosing an SUV over another type of vehicle is how flexible the interior space is. The Traverse offers seating for seven or eight (depending on whether you opt for bench seating or captain’s chairs in the second row), but the back two rows of seating can also be folded down to increase the cargo space. The 2024 model has a maximum cargo volume of 98 cu.ft., which is quite a lot of space. On the High Country trim of the 2023 model, a power-folding third-row seat allows you to fold down or raise some or all of the third row with the push of a button. For 2024, the RS trim comes standard with both a power-folding third row and a power-folding second row, letting you fold all the seats down automatically and making it easy to allow backseat passengers to pass through the second row.
In order to access the cargo area, you need to lift the rear liftgate. This can also be powered for easier access. On the 2023 model, a power liftgate comes standard on the RS trim, and a hands-free version that can be activated by kicking your foot under the rear bumper is standard on the Premier and High Country trims. The 2024 Traverse uses an entirely new technology to power its hands-free power liftgate: an AutoSense Liftgate that senses your presence near the back of the vehicle. Instead of kicking your foot, all you have to do is approach, and the liftgate opens up. This feature is standard on the LT trim.
Infotainment Displays
The 2023 Traverse has a 7” diagonal color touchscreen as standard equipment on lower-tier trims and a slightly larger 8” version on higher trims. For the 2024 model, Chevy is going big with a 17.7” diagonal color touchscreen that’s more than two times as big as the largest available option from the previous model year and comes standard across all trims of the Traverse. A larger screen means that all the words are bigger and easier to read at a glance, which can help drivers get their eyes back on the road more quickly. It also comes in handy with camera views since a bigger picture makes it easier to spot small details that might be missed with a smaller screen.
The driver information center (which sits behind the steering wheel) is a 3.5” diagonal display nestled between analog dials for the speedometer, tachometer, etc., on lower-tier trims of the 2023 Traverse, a 4.2” color display amidst analog dials in mid-tier trims, and an 8” diagonal fully digital display on top-tier trims. With the fully digital display, everything can be customized, including the speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, and other diagnostic displays. That way, you can choose a color and brightness level that’s pleasing to your eye and prioritize information that’s most important to you. Many automakers have been going digital with customizable driver information displays, though they’re often reserved for premium trim levels.
But for the 2024 Traverse, an even larger 11” diagonal driver information center comes standard across the lineup. Making this display easy to read quickly is arguably more important than increasing the size of the touchscreen since the driver information center displays such vital information. In addition to digital versions of the traditional meters and gauges, this display also provides warnings from the driver assistance features.
Safety Comes Standard
Speaking of driver assistance technology, the 2024 Traverse comes standard with a truly impressive list of safety features. Like the 2023 model, it includes the Chevy Safety Assist suite, which has features that have become staples of automotive safety over the past few years, like forward collision alert, automatic emergency braking, front pedestrian and bicyclist braking, following distance indicator, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, and automatic high beam headlights. But the 2024 model goes far beyond this basic set of features, both adding new technologies and making some that were previously reserved for Premier or High Country models standard across the entire lineup, all the way down to the most affordable trim.
Many of these features are versions of Safety Assist features that work in reverse, so you can have the same protections while backing into or out of a parking space, which can be tricky in a crowded parking lot. Rear park assist uses sensors to alert you to other vehicles or large objects, rear pedestrian alert detects people behind you, reverse automatic braking can stop the vehicle to prevent a collision, and rear cross-traffic braking does the same when it senses vehicles coming from the right or left. Awareness of the area behind you is also improved by a standard HD rear vision camera, which provides a high-quality camera feed in real time.
Other features come in handy while driving on the freeway. Lane change alert with side blind zone alert monitors your blind zone and warns you when it’s occupied, blind zone steering assist uses corrective steering to prevent collisions, and adaptive cruise control slows down or stops to keep a consistent following distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. Safety alert seat works with several of the other driver assistance systems, adding seat vibrations to the visual and audio warnings. The seat can vibrate on the left, right, or both at once to let you know right away where the danger is coming from. Other newly standard features include speed limit assist, traffic sign recognition, intersection automatic emergency braking, and side bicyclist alert.
More Comfortable, Convenient, and Safe Than Any of Its Predecessors
Clearly, when it comes to tech, the 2024 Traverse is a significant upgrade over the 2023 model, no matter which trim level you’re looking at. The wide variety of new additions and upgrades ranges from small changes that make the cabin easier to organize to cutting-edge safety features that can make a big difference out on the road. Taken together, they add up to make an SUV that’s more comfortable, convenient, and safe than any of its predecessors.
