① As Ford's BlueCruise intelligent driving system was involved in two fatal accidents this year, US regulators launched an investigation; ② BlueCruise is also an L2 level driver assistance system, and the biggest selling point is that the driver can remove the steering wheel with both hands; ③ US regulators just released an investigation summary report on Tesla Autopilot last Friday.
Financial Services Association, April 29 (Editor Shi Zhengcheng) According to several US media reports, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the top regulator of the US automobile industry, published documents on its official website on Monday that the agency began a preliminary investigation into Ford Motor Company's BlueCruise driving system last week.
(Source: NHTSA)
Similar to Tesla's Autopilot, BlueCruise is also an L2 level driver assistance system. The biggest selling point is that the driver can take both hands off the steering wheel to allow the car to perform adaptive cruising, lane change assistance, lane centering, and speed adjustment. Currently, Ford is equipped with this system on Mustang Mach-e electric vehicles and various SUVs.
According to Ford's official website, this “off-hand” driving system can only be used in the “blue zone” that has obtained regulatory approval. 97% of motorways in the US and Canada are recognized as “blue zones”, and 95% of British motorways can also use this system.
(Schematic map of the US “Blue Zone”, source: Ford's official website)
Similar to Tesla, Ford's intelligent driving system is also under the scrutiny due to fatal accidents.
Hit a stationary vehicle at night
According to the NHTSA report, in the two accidents that occurred in Texas in February and Pennsylvania in early April this year, the two Mustang Mach-E cars involved were both in a state where BlueCruise was turned on at the time of impact. Both cars crashed into cars parked on the highway while driving at night. A total of 3 people died as a result of these accidents.
This is also the first time that Ford's BlueCruise has been involved in a fatal crash, according to public information. In response, Ford issued a brief statement saying “it is cooperating with NHTSA to support its investigation.”
Ford launched BlueCruise in 2021 and is only available on pre-mapped highways. Although the driver is allowed to take his hands off the steering wheel, this driving system is paired with a camera that monitors the driver to check in real time whether the driver's eyes are still staring at the road. Once it detects that the driver is no longer paying attention to the road, the system will issue an alarm. If the driver ignores the warning, the system will “hit the brakes” and slow down to alert.
Since BlueCruise imposes much stricter restrictions on drivers than Autopilot, the Ford investigation is likely to set higher safety standards for advanced driver-assistance systems.
Background: NHTSA releases Autopilot investigation report
Just as NHTSA began an investigation into Ford BlueCruise, regulators also completed a three-year investigation into Tesla Autopilot last week.
Unlike car companies that emphasize that “there will also be a large number of fatal accidents on roads without assisted driving,” NHTSA's perspective is whether the design of these systems will cause drivers to be “overconfident”, leading to a series of accidents that could have been avoided.
NHTSA said in the summary report that there is a “critical safety gap” between drivers' ability expectations of Tesla's Autopilot system and the actual capabilities of the system, leading to “predictable misuse and avoidable collisions.”
According to US regulators, there were 211 accidents in the investigation, and Tesla vehicles hit other vehicles or obstacles head-on with sufficient response time. This means that accidents can be avoided or greatly mitigated if the driver is able to stay alert at all times.
Tesla's large-scale recall in December last year and a software upgrade to Autopilot was carried out. Regarding the effectiveness of the upgrade, NHTSA also launched a new investigation and stated that since incidents related to Autopilot are still being reported in the media, Tesla's software upgrade may not be perfect enough.