Self-driving cars are still nowhere near American roads, but you can safely take your hands off the wheel in some vehicles, on some roads. Ford is the latest automaker to debut a hands-free driving system. BlueCruise, as Ford calls it, will be available on some versions of the 2021 Ford F-150 and the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover.
BlueCruise will have a subscription cost of $600 for three years. But, to use it, you must buy an option package that includes all of the equipment it requires. That’s not nearly as cheap.
It comes on the top-of-the-range F-150 Limited model and is available on the Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum trims if you order the Ford Co-Pilot 360 Active 2.0 Prep Package for an additional $995. On the Mach-E, it’s standard on the CA Route 1, Premium, and First Edition models or available with the prep package on the select trim for an additional $2,600.
Installed Later, Over-the-Air
Buyers can select the system when ordering a vehicle today, but it won’t be active. Ford expects to activate BlueCruise in the third quarter of this year through an over-the-air software update that will not require a dealership visit.
BlueCruise builds on the existing adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping systems to automatically steer the vehicle for you on 100,000 miles of pre-mapped roads in the U.S. and Canada. The instrument cluster switches to a blue background to let you know when you’re on a road where BlueCruise will work. Ford says it will be adding new roads to the system over time.
This is not a truly autonomous driving system. Drivers are expected to pay attention to the road and be prepared to take control of the car at all times. A camera tracks the driver’s head position and eye gaze to warn you when your focus has drifted (though Ford Marketing Manager Karen Sullivan assures us that it doesn’t store any video it takes).
BlueCruise is what the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) refers to as a Level 2 driver assistance system. Fully autonomous driving, in which the driver can stop paying attention to the road and trust the car to drive, would be Level 5. There are no driver assistance systems beyond Level 2 for sale in the U.S. today. Other Level 2 systems include GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system (a name which has created confusion over just what it can do).
