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Union safety regulators have opened aninvestigationinto Ford ’s hand - free number one wood - aid system , BlueCruise , after it was recover to be active duringtwo late crashesthat killed multiple people .
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ’s Office of Defects Investigation ( ODI ) enunciate on Monday that it has confirmed BlueCruise was active in both clangor . One of the clangor happen in February in Texas , and the other fall out in early April in Pennsylvania . They are the first screw fatalities result from crashes involving the use of BlueCruise .
The probe into the two crash ratchets up the scrutiny on BlueCruise , which is presently available on the Mustang Mach - E , and sure Ford F-150s ( let in the Lightning ) , Explorers and Expeditions . The National Transportation Safety Board has alreadyopened an investigationinto the Texas collapse . Ford said in a statement that it is “ working with NHTSA to support its investigation . ”
The new probe comes just days after ODIclosed its most high - profile driver - assistance investigating to date . The safe agencyinitially openedan investigating into Tesla ’s Autopilot in 2021 after multiple composition of Teslas crashing into stationary emergency fomite while the drivers were using Autopilot . In closing the investigating , the ODI said last week that it define a “ critical safety break between number one wood ’ expectations of [ Autopilot ’s ] operating capabilities and the organisation ’s true capabilities ” created “ foreseeable misuse and avertable collapse . ”
Ford declare BlueCruise in 2021 . It is only useable on pre - mapped highways , and Ford pair it with a television camera - based driver monitoring organisation that hold back whether drivers ’ oculus are still on the road when the system is active . Those represent much blotto constraint on the organisation than Tesla put on the utilization of Autopilot .
Still , while BlueCruise is highly rated by some , includingConsumer Reports , the recent crashes and leave investigations suggest there may be a more fundamental problem with advanced machine driver - aid systems than some of these companies are willing to hold .
mark : This story has been update to include a reception from Ford .
