Ford will begin offering its new BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system to customers later this year after 500,000 miles of development testing and fine-tuning the technology on a journey across the United States and Canada.
Last year, Ford sent a fleet of 10 test vehicles – five F-150 pickups and five all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUVs – to complete what test drivers dubbed the “Mother of All Road Trips.” The trek covered more than 110,000 miles through 37 states and five Canadian provinces to challenge BlueCruise against a wide range of road, weather and traffic conditions.
Via over-the-air software updates, BlueCruise will be offered later this year on 2021 F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E models equipped with the available Ford Co-Pilot360™ Active 2.0 Prep Package. Over-the-air software updates allow owners of select Ford vehicles to update software from the convenience of their own garage.
Ford is targeting to sell more than 100,000 vehicles equipped with BlueCruise in the first year, based on company sales and take-rate projections.
Mother of All Road Trips
All 10 test vehicles – one departing from Palo Alto, California, the others from Dearborn, Michigan – spent much of last November and December winding their way across the United States and Canada. Test drivers searched for every conceivable road condition and highway driving scenario, monitoring the system’s performance, collecting data and highlighting areas where improvements could be made.
The trip marked the final leg of a development process that ran up more than a half-million miles in a series of shorter test drives, each designed to evaluate a specific aspect of BlueCruise. As real-world validation of those earlier tests, road trip enabled the system to scan for variances in road signage, lane markings, exit ramps, traffic patterns and weather.
Taylor and fellow BlueCruise engineer Shruti Gotadki set out on an eight-day journey that wound through the southeast United States, targeting driving differences between Jacksonville, Louisville, Atlanta and other major urban areas.
Back at the Ford lab, driver-assist technology supervisor Justin Teems monitored the progress of the entire fleet, corralling important data that will help shape BlueCruise driving experience in the months and years ahead.
BlueCruise
Using both advanced camera and radar-sensing technologies and building upon Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-Go, Lane Centering and Speed Sign Recognition, BlueCruise adds a new level of convenience for drivers with vehicles equipped with Ford Co-Pilot360 Technology. The feature allows a driver to operate truly hands-free on prequalified sections of divided highways called Hands-Free Blue Zones. A driver-facing camera in the instrument cluster monitors eye gaze and head position to help ensure the driver’s eyes remain on the road.
Currently, more than 100,000 miles of highways across North America are dedicated Hands-Free Blue Zones in the Ford GPS mapping system. BlueCruise uses blue lighting on the digital instrument cluster to indicate when the vehicle is in a hands-free zone.
In addition to the full hands-free mode, equipped vehicles will also feature Lane Centering mode. Lane Centering works on most roads with lane lines and can help keep the vehicle centered in its lane but requires drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel. In either mode, a visual prompt on the instrument cluster notifies drivers when they need to return their attention to the road or resume control of the vehicle.
BlueCruise is an SAE Level 2 driver-assist technology, similar to Tesla Autopilot but with the advantage of offering a true hands-free driving experience while in Hands-Free Mode that does not require a driver’s hands to stay in contact with the steering wheel, unless prompted by vehicle alerts.
And unlike other approaches – such as GM’s Super Cruise, which uses red and green lighting, or Tesla’s Autopilot, which requires a driver keep their hands on the steering wheel – BlueCruise communicates with drivers in different ways. The instrument cluster transitions to communicate that the feature is in Hands-Free mode through text and blue lighting cues, effective even for those with color blindness.
2021 F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E customers will be able to purchase BlueCruise software – including a three-year service period – for $600 in the second half of 2021, when it’s ready to launch. Hardware pricing varies by vehicle.
For F-150, BlueCruise is available as a part of the Ford Co-Pilot 360 Active 2.0 package for a total of $1,595 – $600 for the software and $995 for the hardware. The Ford Co-Pilot 360 Active 2.0 package is standard on F-150 Limited and available as an option on Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum models.
For Mustang Mach-E, BlueCruise comes standard on CA Route 1, Premium and First Edition variants. It’s an available package on the Select trim for $3,200.
