Ford Advancing Hands-Free Driving Driver Assist Technology

Ford will begin offering its new BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system to customers later this year after 805,000 kilometres of development testing and fine-tuning the technology on a journey across the United States and Canada.

Ford developed Active Drive Assist based on advanced computing of camera and radar sensing technologies to provide real-time hands-free driving opportunities. The technology also enables expanded hands-free driving zones in the future based on system and customer patterns.

The advanced new driver assist feature will arrive first on 2021 F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E, included as standard on certain models or as relatively affordable option on others.

How it works

Available Active Drive Assist builds upon available Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-Go Lane Centering and Speed Sign Recognition. It allows you to operate your vehicle hands-free while the driver is monitored by a driver-facing camera to make sure you’re keeping your eyes on the road, with the potential for more enhancements in the future. This feature is available on prequalified sections of divided highways called Hands-Free Zones that make up over 160,000 km of North American roads.

An advanced driver-facing camera will track eye gaze and head position to ensure drivers are paying attention to the road while in Hands-Free Mode as well as when they’re using hands-on Lane Centering Mode, which works on any road with lane lines. Drivers will be notified by visual prompts on their instrument cluster when they need to return their attention to the road or resume control of the vehicle.

2021 Ford F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E vehicles equipped with the available Ford Co-Pilot360™ Active 2.0 Prep Package can receive BlueCruise later this year through over-the-air software update.