The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has initiated an investigation into Ford Motor's BlueCruise hands-free driving technology following two tragic crashes involving Ford Mustang Mach-E SUVs. These incidents, which resulted in fatalities after the vehicles struck parked cars, have raised concerns about the safety of the advanced driving system.
The NHTSA's preliminary evaluation will focus on approximately 130,000 Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles manufactured between 2021 and 2024. This investigation marks the first step in determining whether the use of BlueCruise poses an unreasonable risk to driver safety. Ford has expressed its cooperation with the NHTSA as they delve into the matter.
Both crashes involving the Mustang Mach-E are now under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). One incident occurred on February 24 when a Mustang Mach-E using BlueCruise collided with a stationary Honda CR-V in San Antonio, Texas, resulting in the tragic death of the Honda driver. The second crash, which took place on March 3 in Philadelphia, also involved a Ford Mach-E equipped with BlueCruise.
The NHTSA confirmed that the BlueCruise system was activated just before the collision in the Philadelphia crash, raising questions about the system's performance and driver monitoring capabilities. Ford's BlueCruise is designed as an advanced hands-free driving technology that operates on a vast majority of highways in the U.S. and Canada, excluding areas with intersections or traffic signals.
The investigation will specifically scrutinize vehicles equipped with the Co-Pilot360 Active 2.0 system, which includes several driver assistance features such as BlueCruise. Launched in 2021, BlueCruise is available in various Ford and Lincoln models. NHTSA aims to assess the system's efficacy in managing the dynamic driving task and ensuring driver attentiveness through the use of a camera-based monitoring system.
In a related development, last week NHTSA commenced an inquiry into Tesla's recall of over 2 million vehicles to install new Autopilot software updates. This move was prompted by reports of 20 crashes involving vehicles with the updated software, with at least 13 fatalities attributed to foreseeable driver misuse. Both investigations underscore the critical importance of ensuring the safety and reliability of advanced driver assistance technologies in modern vehicles.