A US federal safety regulator has “upgraded” its investigation into Ford’s advanced hands-free driver assistance system known as BlueCruise — a necessary step before a recall.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Failure Investigation began an investigation into Ford BlueCruise last April after the agency confirmed the system was active in Ford Mustang Mach E vehicles involved in two fatal crashes. In both cases, the Mustang Mach E cars hit stationary vehicles.
NHTSA issued a notice this week that he has upgraded research into mechanical analysis. This means the agency will delve deeper into BlueCruise and its potential limitations, including vehicle evaluations, reviewing additional technical information and conducting additional analysis of related crashes and non-crash reports.
An estimated 129,222 Ford Mustang Mach E vehicles are equipped with BlueCruise, according to the regulator. A Ford spokesperson told TechCrunch that the automaker is working with NHTSA to support its investigation.
The agency said its initial investigation found that BlueCruise has limitations in “detecting stationary vehicles in certain conditions.” These limitations include the possibility of falsely detecting stationary objects at long distances when the Ford vehicle is traveling at or above 62 miles per hour.
“Additionally, system performance may be limited when visibility is poor due to insufficient lighting,” NHTSA said.
Ford debuted BlueCruise in 2021 on the 2021 F-150 truck and some 2021 Mustang Mach-E models. The hands-free feature uses cameras, radar sensors and software to provide a combination of adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping and speed sign recognition. BlueCruise and rival GM’s Super Cruise systems are both hands-free, though an in-cabin camera monitors drivers to ensure their eyes are on the road.
These systems are seen as competitors to Tesla Autopilot, which still requires the driver’s hands to remain on the wheel. Autopilot and the upgraded Tesla Full Self-Driving software are still considered less limited than Ford BlueCruise, which only works on certain pre-mapped highways.
Last October, NHTSA also opened an investigation into Tesla’s so-called “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” software after four reported crashes in low-visibility situations — including one that killed a pedestrian. This investigation is ongoing.
This article has been updated to include a comment from Ford.
