2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E Goes Hands-Free
Photo: Ford
Ford fulfilled its promise that the all-new Mustang Mach-E would launch the company’s first hands-free driving feature with the reveal of Active Drive Assist earlier this month. The newest feature to join the Ford Co-Pilot360 suite, Active Drive Assist will allow drivers to travel more than 100,000 miles of highway in the United States and Canada without having to touch the steering wheel.
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“The stress of long highway drives remains a huge issue for drivers around the world,” said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product development and purchasing officer. “By introducing driver-assist technologies like Active Drive Assist, Ford’s version of hands-free driving, we’re allowing our customers to feel more confident whenever they’re behind the wheel.”
Ford’s Active Drive Assist acts as a bridge between Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control with Lane Centering and truly driverless technology that will launch sometime within the next several years. A feature of the former technology, Ford Hands-Free Mode allows for totally hands-off driving on pre-mapped sections of highway across North America provided that the driver keeps their eyes on the road.
This feature will be available on the new Mustang Mach-E as well as the just-revealed 2021 Ford F-150.
Ford Active Drive Assist punches Tesla in its mush
Ford is quick to point out that the addition of Active Drive Assist to the 2021 Mustang Mach-E makes it a better-equipped electric SUV than the upcoming Tesla Model Y. In addition to offering hands-free driving capabilities — something Tesla isn’t offering on the Model Y — the Mach-E will be the only one of the two with cross-traffic alert technologies.
The Mustang Mach-E also comes for Tesla’s wig with enhancement to the Road Edge Detection and Blind Spot Assist features, both of which are standard for Ford Co-Pilot360 2.0. The package also includes enhanced Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go that will automatically resume driving if the vehicle has been stopped for up to 30 seconds. Also included is Intersection Assist, which detects oncoming traffic when making a left-hand turn and can apply the brakes to prevent a collision.
To ensure that customers feel confident in Active Drive Assist and the technologies offered with Ford Co-Pilot360 2.0, Ford tested its Mach-E on the Mother of All Road Trips. Between testing in America, Canada, and Europe, the Ford Mustang Mach-E proves its mettle as a safer, smarter choice.
“Our team has aggressively tested Active Drive Assist to bring something to our customers’ lives that they can trust,” said Justin Teems, Active Drive Assist feature lead. “We go to far-flung places around the U.S. and Canada — from Florida to California, from Quebec to Texas, Wyoming and Idaho — to try to stimulate those rare-case sensor measurements we might not get anywhere else, capturing data in a number of different ways.”
The 2021 Mustang Mach-E and Active Drive Assist will be available in the fall.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.