NHTSA dives deeper into Ford BlueCruise investigation
01/22/2025 11:00 AM
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an Engineering Analysis (EA) into Ford’s BlueCruise to investigate the system’s limitations and drivers’ response capabilities.
“This Engineering Analysis (EA) is being opened to further investigate these system limitations and to evaluate drivers' ability to respond to scenarios that exceed system limitations,” noted the NHTSA report.
On April 25, 2024, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE24012) into Ford BlueCruise after it was notified of two fatal collisions involving the autonomous driving system. The NHTSA notes that BlueCruise is only a partial driving automation system. The ODI looked into all Mustang Mach-E vehicles between model years 2021-2024.
The fatal collisions tied to Ford BlueCruise that resulted in the ODI’s evaluation had a few similarities. Both incidents involved a Ford Mustang Mache-E vehicle traveling over 70mph on a controlled-access highway at night while BlueCruise was engaged. The NHTSA’s data analysis revealed that the drivers were not able to step on the brakes or take control of the steering wheel before impact. The data also showed that BlueCruise and the electric car’s Pre-Collision Assist (PCA) did not attempt to slow down the Mustang Mach-E vehicles before the fatal crashes.
“Based on NHTSA's analysis, system limitations relating to the detection of stationary vehicles while traveling at highway speeds and in nighttime lighting conditions appear to be factors in collisions under investigation and several apparently similar near-miss, non-crash reports,” concluded the NHTSA from the ODI’s evaluation.
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