US safety regulators expand Ford hands-free driving tech investigation

A US federal safety regulator has “upgraded” its investigation of Ford’s hands-free advanced driver assistance system known as BlueCruise – a necessary step before issuing a recall.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defect Investigation An investigation has been launched Last April, the agency confirmed that the system was active in the Ford Mustang Mach E vehicle. Two fatal accidents. In both cases, Mustang Mach E cars hit stationary vehicles

NHTSA issued a Notice this week that it elevated the investigation to engineering analysis. That means the agency will dig deeper into BlueCruise and its potential limitations, including evaluating the vehicle, reviewing additional technical data and additional analysis of related crash and non-crash reports.

Approximately 129,222 Ford Mustang Mach E vehicles are equipped with Blue Cruise, According to Regulator Ford did not respond to a request for comment. (TechCrunch will update the article if it changes.)

The agency said its initial investigation found BlueCruise had limitations in “stationary vehicle detection under certain conditions.” These limitations include the possibility of falsely detecting stationary objects at long distances when the Ford vehicle is traveling at speeds of 62 miles per hour or more.

“In addition, poor visibility due to insufficient illumination may limit system performance,” NHTSA said.

Ford Debut BlueCruise 2021 on the 2021 F-150 pickup truck and certain 2021 Mustang Mach-E models. The hands-free feature offers a combination of adaptive cruise control, lane centering and speed-sign recognition using cameras, radar sensors and software. BlueCruise and competitors GM’s Super Cruise Both systems are hands-free, though an in-cabin camera monitors drivers to ensure their eyes are on the road.

These systems are considered competitors to Tesla Autopilot, which still requires the driver’s hands on the wheel. Autopilot and upgraded Tesla full self-driving software are still considered less restrictive than the Ford Bluecruise, which only works on certain pre-mapped highways.

Last October, NHTSA has also opened an investigation Tesla’s so-called “full self-driving (supervised)” software after four low-visibility crashes — in which a pedestrian was killed. That investigation is ongoing.