D4 THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 2021
Ford’s BlueCruise chases hands-free Tesla, GM
BY HENRY PAYNE
The Detroit News
F
ollowing the lead of Tesla
Inc.’s Autopilot and Gen-
eral Motors Co.’s Super
Cruise, Ford Motor Co. has
telegraphed a semi-autono-
mous, active-drive-assist fea-
ture available with its 2021
Ford F-150 pickup and electric
Mustang Mach-E.
Now that system has a name:
BlueCruise.
Blue as in the colorful high-
lights in the instrument panel
that indicate BlueCruise is
available for hands-free driv-
ing on 100,000 miles of di-
vided highways that Ford has
mapped across North Amer-
ica. The feature, now available
for purchase, will be activated
by an over-the-air update on
properly-equipped vehicles in
the third quarter of this year.
While details are still emerg-
ing, the Ford system aims to
play in the same space as Au-
topilot and Super Cruise. U.S.
manufacturers have taken the
lead in semi-autonomous sys-
tems with a view towards fully
autonomous, so-called Level 5,
vehicles. For now, systems like
BlueCruise are Level 2 grade,
requiring driver attention.
Similar to GM’s Super
Cruise (which debuted on the
now-extinct Cadillac CT6 se-
dan in 2018 and is available
on Escalade/CT4/CT5 models
and the Chevrolet Bolt EUV),
BlueCruise monitors driver en-
gagement via a camera on the
steering column.
GM’s Super Cruise also
monitors drivers via an infra-
red camera on the steering col-
umn. Tesla’s Autopilot, which
debuted on its Model S sedan
in 2015, demands the driver
keep at least one hand on the
steering wheel.
With the instrument display
lit blue, Ford says the pilot can
easily monitor when the sys-
tem is engaged. Super Cruise
uses a green light bar on the
steering wheel to signal oper-
ation — if the system hits an
unmapped area of road or con-
struction zone (or if it detects
With BlueC-
ruise drive
assist en-
gaged, the
instrument
display
in a Ford
F-150 glows
blue with
self-driving
icons, like
a steering
wheel and
vehicle
“halo.”
the driver is distracted), it will
initiate an escalation of red
lights/warning sounds urging
the driver to take over. Tesla’s
Autopilot uses a blue steering
wheel icon in the center screen
to indicate engagement.
Ford says BlueCruise will
work even when the driver is
wearing sunglasses or a face
mask, with the steering col-
umn-based camera focused
on the eyes for evidence of at-
tention.
Ford developed the system
over the last few years from
its Dearborn, Michigan, en-
gineering and Palo Alto, Cal-
ifornia, labs. It did extensive
national testing with a fleet of
five F-150s and five Mach-Es
in what it calls The Mother
of All Road Trips (MOART).
The BlueCruise-equipped fleet
covered thousands of miles
over 37 states and five Cana-
dian provinces in a variety of
weather and traffic conditions.
“I drive long-distance quite
often, whether out to Boston or
down to Florida to visit family
or friends, and usually I men-
tally tire out on drives that far,”
said BlueCruise feature devel-
opment engineer Alexandra
Taylor, who logged over 3,000
miles in an F-150. “When us-
ing BlueCruise, long drives ar-
en’t nearly as mentally taxing
to me.”
The company calls the
100,000 miles of divided high-
ways it has mapped “Hands-
Free Blue Zones.” GM claims
it has mapped 200,000 miles.
Tesla’s system depends on
onboard hardware and GPS
to place it on the road and is
available on all byways.
Its Navigate on Autopilot
feature, however, is only avail-
able on divided highways.
Drivers can set a destination,
yank twice on the gear selec-
tor stalk and the EV (Autopi-
lot is available on all Teslas for
$10,000) will automatically
navigate — including with au-
tomatic lane changes — to the
designated exit. Upon exiting
the interstate, the navigation
function of Autopilot ceases.
GM’s Super Cruise works
similarly when a navigation
point it set.
The BlueCruise and Super
Cruise systems are unique in
that they allow for extended
hands-free driving, whereas
Tesla constantly nannies the
driver to keep a hand on the
wheel. Tesla is beta-testing a
Full Self-Driving mode en-
abling Navigation by Autopilot
everywhere.
Using advanced camera and
radar-sensing tech, BlueCruise
builds on Ford’s adaptive cruise
system, which can follow other
vehicles, lane center and rec-
ognize speed limit signs. Ford’s
system will not debut with
whiz-bang features pioneered
by Tesla like lane-change as-
sist and predictive speed assist
in turns. Ford says BlueCruise
will be upgraded in the future
to include such features — up-
dates that Super Cruise re-
cently added.
BlueCruise is offered stan-
dard on the F-150’s $70,825
Limited trim and as an option
on the $44,695 Lariat, $56,330
King Ranch and $59,110 Plat-
inum models. The feature
is included in the $15,995
Co-Pilot360 Active 2.0 pack-
age, which enables tech-tastic
goodies like adaptive cruise
control and self-park assist.
When BlueCruise is available
for download this fall, buyers
will receive a Ford app or mail
push.
For the Mustang Mach-E,
BlueCruise comes standard
on CA Route 1, Premium and
First Edition models. It’s an op-
tion on the $42,895 Select trim
for $3,200 as part of a larger in-
terior package.
By introducing BlueCruise
in a high volume (900,000
annual sales) vehicle like the
F-series, Ford projects sales of
some 100,000 vehicles by the
end of this year. The technol-
ogy will be rolled out to other
Fords in coming years.
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