The IT Nerd

Ford BlueCruise is a hands-free highway driving assistance feature designed to help make driving easier, more enjoyable, and less stressful. And Consumer Reports has had it as the top-ranked active driving assistance system twice in a row out of 17 systems tested.

Rather than explain how it works, here’s a two minute video explaining how it works:

From a safety perspective, there’s two things that I ‘d like to highlight:

• A driver-facing camera tracks eye gaze and head position to ensure your eyes stay on the road while your hands are off the wheel. A driver monitoring system like this one adds an additional level of confirmation that the driver is still engaged and can resume control at any moment.
• External sensors detect the environment around your vehicle, allowing BlueCruise to keep you centred in the lane, at a safe distance from other vehicles, and give you more space from vehicles in adjacent lanes. This situational awareness can provide an extra sense of security while you drive hands-free.

One last thing that I’d like to point out is that BlueCruise works only in places where Ford has mapped out the roads. Those are called “Blue Zones” and additional “Blue Zones” are downloaded over the air to your car as the become available.

Ford recently lowered the price of the BlueCruise annual and monthly plan pricing for all Canadian customers with Ford BlueCruise-equipped vehicles and simplifying how new vehicle owners in Canada access hands-free highway driving, while continuing to offer flexible options. 

BlueCruise will now be even simpler to activate on Ford vehicles with both a one-year plan and one-time purchase option. The one-year plan will either be included standard or as an option based on the vehicle line and trim. Starting on select 2025 model year vehicle lines, Ford customers can choose to upgrade to a one-time purchase at vehicle order and won’t need to activate BlueCruise again on their vehicle.   

In addition, Ford will continue to offer a 90-day complimentary trial to customers who do not select a one-year plan, if it is not included standard, or the one-time purchase at vehicle order. Customers will be able to experience hands-free highway driving for 90 days and then have the flexibility to activate annually or monthly at the end of the trial based on their needs. For example, a customer could activate the service for one month for a road trip and not activate it again for another year or could choose to activate it only during the holiday travel season.    

BlueCruise availability will expand across 2025 model year vehicles and trims to give more customers who want an electric, hybrid or gas-powered Ford vehicle access to hands-free highway driving. In Canada, BlueCruise is now available on: Ford Explorer, Ford Expedition, Ford F-150, F-150 Lightning, and Mustang Mach-E.  

• For 2025 model year vehicles, the one-year plan will either be included standard or as an option at vehicle order for $650 CAD, based on the vehicle line and trim.  
• Starting on select 2025 model year vehicle lines, 2025 Mustang Mach-E and 2025 Expedition, the one-time purchase will be available at vehicle order for $3,295 CAD MSRP. Ford will share additional details in the future around one-time purchase options for other vehicle lines.
• The new pricing plan for all Ford owners with BlueCruise-equipped vehicles is $650 CAD annually and $64.99 CAD monthly, effective November 1, 2024. BlueCruise customers with active annual and monthly plans will see the price drop reflected on their next payment. 

I’ve reached out to Ford to see if I can try out BlueCruise for myself. If I can get some seat time, expect a full review to be posted.

This entry was posted on November 19, 2024 at 9:00 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Ford. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.