What is Ford BlueCruise and is it legal in the UK?

What is Ford BlueCruise and how does it work?

When you boil it down, BlueCruise is essentially a more advanced version of adaptive cruise control. It uses a suite of cameras and sensors to monitor road markings, speed signs and the traffic around you, meaning it can steer to keep you in lane, keep you a safe distance from the car in front, keep to the posted speed limit and slow to a complete stop in traffic, all with no hands on the wheel.

Ford calls it “hands-off, eyes-on driving”, meaning that while you can drive hands-free, you have to be paying attention and ready to intervene if the system disengages. To make sure you are paying attention, the car is fitted with an infrared camera inside to monitor your eye movements and make sure you’re not distracted.

Is Ford BlueCruise legal in the UK?

BlueCruise is the first hands-free driver assistance technology to be approved for use on UK roads, but only on certain pre-mapped sections of motorway.

Ford calls these “Blue Zones”, and they cover 2,300 miles of roads in England, Scotland and Wales. In order to activate Blue Cruise, you must be within one of the designated Blue Zones, be watching the road and have your hands on the wheel. Once you leave a Blue Zone, the system will automatically disengage.

These designated zones cover 95% of motorways in the UK including the M25, M40, M5 and M1. You can see a map of all the Blue Zone routes on Ford’s website, and the list is being continually updated.

What cars are equipped with Blue Cruise?

Currently, just the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E is available with BlueCruise, although it’s likely to be available on other new models such as the Explorer in the future.

Check out Mat’s in-depth review of the Ford Mustang Mach-E…

You get a 90-day free trial of the system when you buy a new Mustang Mach-E, however after that it’s only available via subscription for £17.99 per month. As part of this fee, the Blue Zone map is updated over the air when new routes are available.

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