Ford Motor Co. has released the results of an extensive road test program involving its soon-to-be-released hands-free driving system. An upgrade to Ford’s Co-Pilot360 system, BlueCruise enables complete hands-free driving over 100,000 mi (161,000 km) of pre-qualified North American highways.
Calling the test program “The Mother of All Road Trips,” Ford testers went on the more than 100,000-mi journey across the U.S. and Canada as part of a program that amassed more than 500,000 mi (805,000 km) of development testing and fine-tuning the BlueCruise technology.
The result is completely hands-free driving on prequalified sections of divided highways in the Ford GPS mapping system, which the company calls Hands-Free Blue Zones, totaling more than 100,000 mi of North American highways.
Ford BlueCruise is an SAE Level 2 driver-assist technology, which in some respects resembles Tesla’s Autopilot system but more closely Super Cruise from General Motors due to the hands-free aspect. BlueCruise uses camera- and radar-sensing technologies and features adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, lane centering, and speed-limit sign recognition.
Like Super Cruise, in the interest of driver and occupant safety, BlueCruise has a driver-facing camera, in this case in the instrument cluster that monitors eye gaze and head position to help ensure the driver’s eyes remain on the road. BlueCruise differs from Super Cruise in the way it communicates with the driver. The instrument cluster transitions to communicate that the feature is in hands-free mode through text and blue lighting cues—unlike Super Cruise’s red and green lighting—which Ford says enables BlueCruise to be effective for drivers with color blindness.
Via over-the-air software updates, BlueCruise will be offered later this year on 2021 Ford F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E models equipped with the 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 home/garage.
An add-on to the Ford Co-Pilot 360, 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. Beyond the 2021 F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E, additional Ford vehicles will also receive BlueCruise hands-free driving technology, while current owners continue to receive over-the-air software updates to add new features and capabilities in the coming years.
Future enhancements are planned to include lane-change assist that will let the vehicle change lanes with just a tap of the turn-signal indicator, and predictive speed assist that will adjust vehicle speed for situations like road curves and roundabouts.
Last year, Ford used a fleet of 10 test vehicles—five F-150 pickups and five all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUVs—in the road test program. The trek covered more than 110,000 mi (177,000 km) through 37 states and five Canadian provinces to test BlueCruise in a range of road, weather, and traffic conditions.
“There are highway intricacies and driving conditions that you simply cannot replicate in a lab,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford Chief Product Platform and Operations Officer. “Sending these vehicles out for real-world driving experience is just one of many ways we ensured that BlueCruise technology offers confidence and convenience for drivers all across the continent.”
All 10 test vehicles—one departing from Palo Alto, CA, the others from Dearborn, MI—spent much of November and December winding their way across the U.S. 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, the road trip enabled the system to scan for variances in road signage, lane markings, exit ramps, traffic patterns, and weather.
“I drive long-distance quite often, whether out to Boston or down to Florida to visit family or friends, and usually I mentally tire out on drives that far,” said Alexandra Taylor, BlueCruise Feature Development Engineer, who logged more than 3000 mi (4800 km) in an F-150 on the trek. “The one thing that became clear is that, when using BlueCruise, long drives aren’t nearly as mentally taxing to me.”
Taylor and fellow BlueCruise engineer Shruti Gotadki set out on an eight-day journey that wound through the southeast U.S., 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.
“It was like mission control,” Teems said. “We really wanted to push BlueCruise to its limits. Every state builds roads a little differently. When you include factors like lane-line degradation, weather, and construction, building a hands-free driving system becomes extremely complex.”
F-150 and 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.
On the F-150, BlueCruise is available as a part of the Ford Co-Pilot 360 Active 2.0 package for a total of $1595—$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.
On the 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 $3200—$600 for the software and $2600 for the rest of the package—as part of the larger Comfort and Technology package, which includes features such as a 360-degree camera, heated front seats, and heated steering wheel.
