Ford's Answer To Autopilot Is Under Federal Investigation After Crash Deaths

Autonomous cars will someday take us to work, school, and back home again. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International classifies self-driving cars with a number ranging from 0 (significant driver input required) to 5 (completely autonomous). Currently, no production cars have reached level 5, but automakers are constantly working to improve their autonomous driving technology. Progress always comes with setbacks, though, and with autonomous driving technology, those setbacks can mean tragedy.

Ford's BlueCruise is a level 2 system, which requires the driver to remain active and alert when the system is engaged. It has been in use since 2021, and is available on the Mustang Mach-E, the F-150 and F-150 Lightning, and the Expedition. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)'s Office of Defects Investigation recently opened an investigation into BlueCruise after the agency learned the system was active during two fatal crashes earlier this year. 

Both crashes involved 2023 Mach-E models that hit other vehicles that were stopped in the travel lanes of highways. BlueCruise is meant to allow drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel and allow the vehicle to steer, brake, and accelerate on highways.

The first crash was on Interstate 10 outside San Antonio, Texas in February, and the second was in early March in Pennsylvania. Three people died in the crashes, and these were the first fatalities involving BlueCruise-operated vehicles. Both accidents happened at night, and the investigation will probe the system's ability to monitor driver attentiveness and traffic conditions. 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has investigated the Texas crash, and discovered that the 1999 Honda CR-V that was struck was stopped in the center lane of the interstate with no lights on at the time of the crash, which happened just before 10 p.m. The 56-year old driver of the Honda died later at a hospital, and another driver told the NTSB they were narrowly able to avoid hitting the Honda just before the crash. 

The more recent BlueCruise-related accident occurred on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia on March 3 at 3:20 a.m. That crash came after two other cars — a Toyota Prius and a Hyundai Elantra — collided and their occupants had stopped on the highway, and were outside their vehicles. The Mach-E hit the back of the Hyundai, sending it into the Prius. The chain reaction crash killed the driver of the Prius and an occupant of the Elantra, who were both outside their vehicles and standing on the roadway. According to the Washington Post, police are considering criminal charges against the 23-year old Mach-E driver for "homicide by motor vehicle while driving under the influence."