Feds query Ford in hands-free driving investigation
The highest federal car security regulator has despatched Ford an exhaustive checklist of questions on its hands-free driver-assistance system often known as BlueCruise. It’s the newest improvement in an investigation that began multiple 12 months in the past following two deadly crashes involving the software program.
The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration’s (NHTSA) Workplace of Defects Investigation (ODI) despatched a letter to Ford on June 18 that incorporates 25 questions. A lot of them are primary, resembling asking Ford for an in depth checklist of autos which have been geared up with BlueCruise. However the NHTSA additionally needs inner Ford paperwork associated to the crashes that sparked the probe, the event of BlueCruise, descriptions of any modifications made to the software program, and far more.
It’s the primary “info request” that the NHTSA has despatched Ford because it upgraded the investigation in January to a stage often known as an “engineering evaluation.” That development is a required step earlier than NHTSA can ask Ford to concern a recall.
A Ford spokesperson advised TechCrunch the corporate is working with the NHTSA to help this investigation.
The ODI opened the investigation in April 2024 after two deadly crashes. In every of these incidents, the drivers had been utilizing BlueCruise after they crashed into autos that had been stationary. They had been the primary recognized fatalities ensuing from crashes involving the usage of BlueCruise.
Ford solely permits drivers to make use of BlueCruise on pre-mapped highways. The hands-free system makes use of cameras, radar sensors, and software program to deal with steering, velocity, and braking on sure highways. The software program is paired with an in-cabin digicam with an eye-tracking system that’s supposed to make sure drivers are being attentive to the street forward. The system, which prices $495 a 12 months or $2,495 as a one-time buy, is obtainable within the Ford Explorer, Ford Expedition, Ford F-150 truck, and the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E.
The crashes in early 2024 raised the query of how succesful Ford’s system is at recognizing stationary objects — an issue that has plagued Tesla’s personal driver-assistance software program for years.
The NHTSA mentioned in January, when it upgraded the investigation, that it has found “limitations within the detection of stationary autos in sure circumstances” and that BlueCruise’s efficiency “could also be restricted when there may be poor visibility attributable to inadequate illumination.” (Each deadly crashes occurred at evening.)
Within the new letter, the NHTSA has requested Ford for extra details about the BlueCruise software program’s “logic and/or algorithms used within the detection and classification of hazards in entrance of” the car.
Ford has till August 6 to submit its responses to the 25 questions or face civil penalties.