Regulators Investigating Ford for Fatal Accidents Involving Self-Driving Feature

By
Bill McColl
Bill McColl
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Bill McColl has 25+ years of experience as a senior producer and writer for TV, radio, and digital media leading teams of anchors, reporters, and editors in creating news broadcasts, covering some of the most notable news stories of the time.

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Published April 29, 2024
Ford Motor logo on headquarters building

Jeff Kowalsky / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Key Takeaways

  • Federal regulators are investigating two fatal crashes involving Ford Mustang Mach-E model electric vehicles with a self-driving feature.
  • Officials said the Mach-Es had the BlueCruise system engaged prior to the collisions.
  • The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that the probe would evaluate the performance of BlueCruise feature.

Ford Motor (F) shares lost ground Monday as federal regulators announced they have opened an investigation into fatal accidents related to the carmaker’s hands-free self-driving feature.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that its Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) was looking into two crashes involving Ford’s Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles that caused three fatalities.

Officials say the two vehicles had the company’s BlueCruise hands-free driver-assist system engaged prior to the collisions with stationary vehicles. They noted both incidents this year happened at night, within the travel lanes of controlled-access highways. Reports said that the crashes occurred in San Antonio and Philadelphia.

NHTSA pointed out that BlueCruise is part of Ford’s Co-Pilot360 Active 2.0 package, which has “a suite of driver assistance technologies including partial driving automation features that provide lane and speed maintenance with the expectation that the driver actively supervises the system’s performance.” It added that BlueCruise is only available on certain roadways, and uses a camera-based driver monitoring system to determine driver attentiveness. 

Officials said the ODI will evaluate BlueCruise’s performance of the dynamic driving task and driver monitoring. 

In an email to Investopedia, Ford said it was "working with NHTSA to support its investigation."

Ford shares were down 1% to $12.66 at about 3:10 p.m. ET. With Monday's losses, the stock has risen about 4% in 2024.

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  1. NHTSA. "ODI RESUME: Collisions Involving Ford BlueCruise."

  2. The Verge. "NHTSA Opens Investigation Into Ford’s BlueCruise After Software Linked to Fatal Crash."

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