Photo: Ford
Ford is expanding its rollout of BlueCruise hands-free for 2024, offering the technology standard in vehicles like the F-150 and Expedition. An estimated 500,000 2024 model-year vehicles will get factory-installed BlueCruise hardware as well as a 90-day complimentary trial or the option to bundle the service into the purchase price.
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2024 Ford, Lincoln vehicles receive complimentary 90-day BlueCruise trial
“BlueCruise is an experience-it-to-believe-it technology, and people are amazed at how BlueCruise can help make driving less stressful and more enjoyable — especially in traffic or on long drives,” said Ashley Lambrix, Head of Commercial Acceleration at Ford Model e.
The move to offer 2024 F-150, F-150 Lightning, and Expedition models with BlueCruise built in would increase the number of vehicles equipped with the technology twofold. Currently, Ford estimates that there are 225,000 Ford and Lincoln vehicles with BlueCruise around the world. Drivers with BlueCruise have logged 1.4 million hours and more than 100 million miles of hands-free driving.
Eligible Ford vehicles can be ordered with up to three years of BlueCruise included, and the bundled price of $2,100 for three years is rolled into the financing. Drivers who don’t opt into BlueCruise from the jump will receive a complimentary 90-day trial. Once the trial expires, the service will cost $75 a month or $800 annually.
This also means that drivers can pay for the service as often as they plan to use it. There’s no minimum length requirement for use — it’s entirely possible to just activate the feature for the month of your road trip.
“We believe in this technology and how it can help transform the highway driving experience and want to give more customers the opportunity to try it and provide flexibility for them to activate it when they want to use it,” added Lambrix.
Ford will also expand the offering of BlueCruise in the 2024 Lincoln Navigator, Nautilus, and select Corsair models. Select vehicles will include four years of BlueCruise access included, and others receive a 90-day complimentary trial.
BlueCruise 1.3 rolling out soon
Ford also announced that the next update to its hands-free technology, BlueCruise 1.3, will be rolling out soon to 2021-23 Mustang Mach-E vehicles. Optimizations include improved performance in curves and narrow lanes. Ford BlueCruise 1.2 rolled out earlier this year, adding a new Lane Change Assist feature among other improvements.
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.