All vehicles where BlueCruise is available will receive the hardware as standard.
Drivers will then have to pay either at delivery, annually, or monthly in order to use the system.
The automaker offers a 90-day trial period on new vehicles.
Subscription services are becoming the norm in the automotive industry and Ford is joining this trend by making BlueCruise available through a subscription on 2024 models.
BlueCruise is the company’s advanced hands-free driver assistance system that can drive the vehicle mostly on its own on stretches of pre-defined highways, as long as the driver keeps their eyes on the road.
Previously, this system was available as a regular option on some Ford and Lincoln models and the vehicles that weren’t ordered with it from the factory didn’t receive the required hardware.
This will change with the arrival of 2024 model-year vehicles since Ford will now install the hardware in every vehicle that can be equipped with BlueCruise as standard.
In order to use the system, drivers will now have to pay a reoccurring fee, however.
According to Ford, this fee will be priced at $800 per year or $75 per month in the United States. Those who prefer a longer term will also be able to roll an additional $2,100 in the financing of the vehicle at purchase in order to unlock BlueCruise for three years at once.
Buyers who decide to wait before using this technology will still be able to test it free of charge for 90 days.
While this news is not welcomed by everyone, there are some advantages to this business model.
Indeed, Ford points out that customers don’t have to decide at the time of purchase if they want BlueCruise or not since they can activate it at any time.
In addition, the fact that there are no set time commitments for the subscription means that drivers could opt to pay for BlueCruise only one month per year, during their family vacations, for example.
Ford also claims that BlueCruise is constantly improving thanks to more than 225,000 users across North America who have now logged 100 million hands-free miles.
Making BlueCruise standard on the vehicles that currently offer it, the Ford F-150, F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, and Expedition, as well as the Lincoln Navigator, the Nautilus, and some trim levels of the Corsair should account for 500,000 additional BlueCruise-equipped vehicles in 2024 alone.
According to the automaker, the current version of BlueCruise, 1.3, stayed engaged about 5 times longer than version 1.0 in internal testing.
Ford has yet to announce if this subscription model will make it to Canada, and if so, how much it will cost.
