New Fords Will Get BlueCruise Hardware Even if Customers Don’t Pay For It
Ford plans to offer hands-free driving trials to new owners to entice them to become subscribers.
Ford is expanding its BlueCruise hands-free driving system to more vehicles in its lineup, and it's looking to get more customers signed up to use it. It's all part of a strategy to increase revenue from software subscriptions, an area many automakers want to expand. Ford thinks free trials of BlueCruise will help, and to do this, it's including the necessary hardware on many of its cars as standard right from the factory. All new owners of compatible vehicles will get 90 days to try Ford's latest assisted-driving tech, even if they don't pay for it up front.
The Blue Oval claims that it's put 225,000 vehicles on the road to date which are BlueCruise capable. It says an additional half million will likewise receive the necessary gear to support the feature for the 2024 model year. That's a massive pool of potential subscribers, and Ford is looking to cash in on them. At the dealer, BlueCruise costs $2,100 for three years as an option. Understandably, some customers might find that steep, even if they can roll the cost of the service into financing the entire vehicle.
If a customer doesn't want any BlueCruise, Ford plans to entice them. The automaker says that regardless whether a customer asks for it, they will be able to use hands-free driving on enabled roadways for 90 days, just to see if they like the convenience. Put another way, if a particular trim of a model could be optioned with BlueCruise hardware before, the company will now include it standard. Then, if customers want to continue using the service after 90 days, it's $75 per month, or $800 per year of use. There is no minimum subscription period, so if an owner just wants hands-free driving for a single month, they can do that.
Market research cited in a Ford press release claims that this will enable them to get more people signed up. Currently, BlueCruise is available on the new Mustang Mach-E, Expedition, F-150, and F-150 Lightning. For both gas and electric pickups as well as the Expedition, BlueCruise will only be available on higher trim levels, per MotorTrend. Several Lincolns also offer the service, and they don't call it "Active Glide" anymore, either.
Ford's system was revealed well after General Motors' competing hands-free highway driving system, known as Super Cruise. Since then, the Blue Oval's tech has received a few updates to try and catch up to the General's, which have been mostly well-received. GM is now installing its software in many of its new offerings with a similar subscription model to Ford, and looking towards the future with a more advanced system, called Ultra Cruise, designed for use on residential roads.
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