Ford's 'hands-free' driver-assistance system under investigation

By Claudia Assis

Two crashes involving the automaker's Mustang Mach-E resulted in deaths

U.S. highway-safety regulators have opened an investigation into two accidents allegedly involving Ford Motor Co.'s BlueCruise advanced driver-assistance features, in which two Mustang Mach-Es collided with stationary vehicles in incidents that left three people dead.

Both collisions occurred at night, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a preliminary report dated Friday. Each incident resulted in at least one fatality, and an initial investigation of both incidents confirmed that BlueCruise was engaged before the collision, according to the regulator.

A Ford (F) spokesperson said Monday that the carmaker is working with the NHTSA to support its investigation.

On its website, Ford says that BlueCruise enables "hands-free highway driving" on most interstates, freeways and expressways in the U.S. and Canada. The suite is available on several models.

The investigation comes amid renewed scrutiny of Tesla Inc.'s (TSLA) Autopilot, the EV maker's own advanced driver-assistance system for highway driving.

Regulators last week said they were investigating whether a December recall of 2 million vehicles equipped with Autopilot adequately addressed the issues.

Teslas engaged with Autopilot have allegedly collided with stationary vehicles - including emergency vehicles - on highways, sparking probes.

Shares of Ford were the rare spot of red on stock screens Monday, down 0.5% amid gains for Tesla, General Motors Co. (GM) and other carmakers.

Ford's stock has gained around 4% so far this year, compared with gains of about 7% for the S&P 500 index SPX.

-Claudia Assis

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04-29-24 1435ET

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