- Two separate incidents involving BlueCruise involving two Ford Mustang Mach-Es led to the investigation
- The investigation revealed Level 2 ADAS restrictions at night and at speeds in excess of 70 mph
- Other Ford and Lincoln models with active lane control are currently being examined
Ford’s BlueCruise is the latest limited hands-free driving system to come under intense federal scrutiny by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, according to a Reuters report on Monday.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in April 2024 after two separate collisions involving a Ford Mustang Mach-E resulted in two deaths. In both cases, BlueCruise was active and the Mustang Mach-E was struck, paralyzing or Stationary cars on highways at night. In the April accident, a Honda CR-V was stopped with no hazards or lights on in the lane.
Reuters reported that other drivers swerved to miss the opportunity. The Mach-E would not start, and the driver of the parked CR-V was killed. In another fatal accident in March in Philadelphia, a Mach-E struck two parked cars, which were also in a lane instead of on the shoulder. The drivers of both vehicles were fatally struck outside their cars.
In both cases, the Mach-E machines were traveling Above 70 mph The drivers did not apply the brakes or take evasive steering action. The initial investigation covered the 2021-2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E, but the expanded investigation could include more Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
Ford estimates that BlueCruise can operate on 97% of limited-access highways in the United States and Canada. The investigation revealed that Ford designed Adaptive speed controlthe part of the system that detects traffic ahead and maintains a gap between that traffic, to prevent responses from stationary objects and false detection when the test car is traveling faster than 62 mph.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has faulted the effectiveness of automatic emergency braking at highway speeds, finding that limited hands-free safety systems are not safety systems but merely conveniences, such as heated seats.
NHTSA appears to be reaching similar conclusions, interactively. NHTSA investigated Tesla and Misnomer “full self-driving” The system has been replaced several times for various reasons, leading to the recall of more than two million vehicles equipped with the hardware and software in December 2023.
Unlike Tesla, Ford’s system uses a driver monitoring camera to make sure the driver is paying attention or at least has his or her head and eyes facing the road. NHTSA now requires Ford to demonstrate a deeper engineering analysis to evaluate the system’s limitations and evaluate whether drivers have sufficient time to take over in light of the limitations of these systems.
Such analysis often precedes retrieval. The investigation can include more than… 2.5 million Ford and Lincoln vehicles Model years 2019 to date are equipped with Active Lane Control, or what Ford calls it Track centering assistant It is used in concert with adaptive cruise control to keep the vehicle in its lane.
Like Tesla, Ford has run afoul of NHTSA recently. In November 2024, NHTSA fined Ford $165 million for failing to comply with a rearview camera recall that nearly every major automaker has had to deal with. It was the second-largest penalty imposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), after the Takata airbag disaster.
Reminder: There are no self-driving cars sold today.
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