Ford Overtakes Tesla In UK With 'Hands-Free' Feature In Mustang Mach-E Cars

Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F) on Thursday introduced BlueCruise — a hands-free highway driving feature — in Great Britain aboard its Mustang Mach-E.

What Happened: Ford UK took to Twitter on Thursday to announce that Mustang Mach E users can activate the BlueCruise on models built after Nov. 3.

With a green light from the UK's Department for Transport, the new feature will allow drivers to go hands-free in certain divided, pre-mapped motorways called blue zones.

These motorways extend across 2,300 miles in England, Scotland and Wales. Though free for the first 90 days, BlueCruise is chargeable at £17.99/month for every month afterward.

On BlueZones, BlueCruise will maintain the car in the lane while sustaining cruising speed. As a safety measure, an infrared camera would track the driver’s gaze to ensure that they are watching the road.

If the camera identifies otherwise, it would alert the driver with either a message or a sound. In case the driver does not respond to the alert, the system will cancel, pump the brakes and slow the vehicle down.

Ford expects BlueCruise to be activated in different European countries as and when regulatory conditions permit, and will roll out the system to further Ford vehicles in the coming years, the company said in a statement.

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Though Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been attempting to ramp up its Autopilot and full self-driving capabilities, these features are presently intended for use by a driver who has their hands on the wheel and does not make the vehicle autonomous, Tesla says on its website.

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