Taking your hands off the steering wheel and feet off the pedals while travelling at 70mph might sound like a nightmare.
But it’s now a reality for drivers behind the wheel of the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
The car contains a system called BlueCruise, which is the UK’s only legal hands-free driving technology.
But would you feel safe letting a car take over for you on the motorway?
Ford loaned MailOnline’s Shivali Best a Mustang Mach-E for the weekend so she could find out.
Taking your hands off the steering wheel and feet off the pedals while travelling at 70mph might sound like a nightmare. But it’s now a reality for drivers behind the wheel of the Ford Mustang Mach-E
Hands-free cars are driving on British roads for the first time after Ford launched its innovative new BlueCruise technology
BlueCruise was originally launched in the US and Canada back in 2021, but finally came to the UK last year in the Ford Mustang Mach-E 2023 model.
Unlike Tesla’s Autopilot , where you must keep your hands on the wheel, BlueCruise is the first system to allow you to let go of both the wheel and the pedals entirely.
The system is designed to do some of the ‘heavy lifting’ during long journeys, according to Martin Sander, general manager of Ford Model e, Europe.
‘Modern highways can be demanding even for the most confident drivers, and intimidating for many,’ he explained.
‘BlueCruise can do some of the “heavy lifting”, to make highway driving less of a chore, and give drivers that little extra confidence and convenience.’
The system uses a combination of radars and cameras to detect and track the position and speed of other vehicles on the road.
A forward-facing camera detects lane markings and speed signs, while an infrared camera is located below the instrument cluster, tracking the driver’s gaze and head position.
Would you feel safe letting a car take over for you on the motorway? Ford loaned MailOnline’s Shivali Best a Mustang Mach-E for the weekend so she could find out
Once the technology is activated and the car is in a ‘BlueZone’ – which now covers 95 per cent of the UK’s motorways – you can take your hands off the wheel and feet off the pedals and let the car chauffeur you on your journey
What is BlueCruise and how does it work?
BlueCruise is the UK’s first legal hands-free driving technology.
The system uses a combination of radars and cameras to detect and track the position and speed of other vehicles on the road.
A forward-facing camera detects lane markings and speed signs, while an infrared camera is located below the instrument cluster, tracking the driver’s gaze and head position.
Once the technology is activated and the car is in a ‘BlueZone’ – which now covers 95 per cent of the UK’s motorways – you can take your hands off the wheel and feet off the pedals and let the car chauffeur you on your journey.
However, if the car detects you’re not watching the road, it will prompt you to take control once again.
Once the technology is activated and the car is in a ‘BlueZone’ – which now covers 95 per cent of the UK’s motorways – you can take your hands off the wheel and feet off the pedals and let the car chauffeur you on your journey.
However, if the car detects you’re not watching the road, it will prompt you to take control once again.
I borrowed the Ford Mustang Mach-E 2023 for a weekend break to the south west of England – the perfect opportunity to try BlueCruise.
The system was straightforward to set up via the car’s built-in tablet, or ‘SYNC screen’, as Ford calls it.
As per the instructions on Ford’s website, I selected Driver Assistance > Cruise Control > then Lane Centring.
And with that, I was ready to test BlueCruise.
The system lay in wait until I hit the M3 – a designated ‘Blue Zone’ – and the car confirmed the lane markings were clearly visible and my eyes were on the road.
At this point, a message popped up on the dashboard, telling me BlueCruise was available.
To activate the system, I brought the car to my preferred speed (BlueCruise operates at up to 80mph, but I opted for a more sensible 70mph), and used my left thumb to click the BlueCruise button on my steering wheel.
Immediately, a blue message reading ‘Hands-Free’ appeared on the dashboard, telling me it was safe to let go.
The technology can be activated when the car is in a ‘BlueZone’ – which now covers 95 per cent of the UK’s motorways
The system was straightforward to set up via the car’s built-in tablet, or ‘SYNC screen’, as Ford calls it
As you might expect, letting go of the steering wheel and pedals felt completely counterintuitive the first time.
My hands cautiously hovered inches above the steering wheel while my foot tentatively hovered above the brake, desperate to take back control.
However, my fears were quickly allayed, as the car confidently took over.
Had the motorway been entirely empty, the car would have kept going at my prefered speed of 70mph.
But, being the UK, the motorway was chock-a-block, so instead, the car took its cues from the car ahead of me.
If the car ahead slowed down, the Mustang would also begin to brake, keeping a reassuringly long braking distance at all times.
Meanwhile, if the traffic thinned out and the car ahead got back up to speed, the Mustang too would pick up its pace – although it never exceeded my pre-set limit of 70mph.
Had the motorway been entirely empty, the car would have kept going at my prefered speed of 70mph. But, being the UK, the motorway was chock-a-block, so instead, the car took its cues from the car ahead of me
The system only worked when I stayed in one lane, and automatically reverted to manual control when I turned on the indicators to change lane.
What’s more, if I started to feel nervous and wanted to regain control, I could do this immediately by clicking the BlueCruise button on the steering wheel once again.
Once I’d tested the system a few times and felt more confident, it was time to put the eye-tracking to the test.
I set the car to BlueCruise, made sure my fiancé, Sam, was watching the road from the passenger seat beside me, took a deep breath and turned my head to look out the window to my right.
While I expected turning my attention away from the road to set off alarm bells almost immediately, surprisingly this wasn’t the case.
It took a good few seconds for the car to notice, and at that point it was simply a warning message that popped up on the dashboard.
Ford reassures that further inattention would activate audible alerts, brake activations and slowing of the vehicle.
However, I didn’t push it – five seconds without my eyes on the road while travelling at 70mph was long enough for me!
Overall, BlueCruise was extremely intuitive to use, and as someone who isn’t the most confident driver, I was surprised at how quickly I was comfortable giving control to the car.
If you’re a commuter who reguarly endures long drives on motorways, the system would definitely make your journey feel like less of a chore!
SELF-DRIVING CARS ‘SEE’ USING LIDAR, CAMERAS AND RADAR
Self-driving cars often use a combination of normal two-dimensional cameras and depth-sensing ‘LiDAR’ units to recognise the world around them.
However, others make use of visible light cameras that capture imagery of the roads and streets.
They are trained with a wealth of information and vast databases of hundreds of thousands of clips which are processed using artificial intelligence to accurately identify people, signs and hazards.
In LiDAR (light detection and ranging) scanning – which is used by Waymo – one or more lasers send out short pulses, which bounce back when they hit an obstacle.
These sensors constantly scan the surrounding areas looking for information, acting as the ‘eyes’ of the car.
While the units supply depth information, their low resolution makes it hard to detect small, faraway objects without help from a normal camera linked to it in real time.
In November last year Apple revealed details of its driverless car system that uses lasers to detect pedestrians and cyclists from a distance.
The Apple researchers said they were able to get ‘highly encouraging results’ in spotting pedestrians and cyclists with just LiDAR data.
They also wrote they were able to beat other approaches for detecting three-dimensional objects that use only LiDAR.
Other self-driving cars generally rely on a combination of cameras, sensors and lasers.
An example is Volvo’s self driving cars that rely on around 28 cameras, sensors and lasers.
A network of computers process information, which together with GPS, generates a real-time map of moving and stationary objects in the environment.
Twelve ultrasonic sensors around the car are used to identify objects close to the vehicle and support autonomous drive at low speeds.
A wave radar and camera placed on the windscreen reads traffic signs and the road’s curvature and can detect objects on the road such as other road users.
Four radars behind the front and rear bumpers also locate objects.
Two long-range radars on the bumper are used to detect fast-moving vehicles approaching from far behind, which is useful on motorways.
Four cameras – two on the wing mirrors, one on the grille and one on the rear bumper – monitor objects in close proximity to the vehicle and lane markings.
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