Ford Co-Pilot360 Enhanced With Hands-free Driving Assist and More

Semi-autonomous driving is coming to Ford vehicles in a similar move to Tesla’s Autopilot and General Motors’ Super Cruise. It’s part of a major enhancement to the Ford Co-Pilot360 active safety system.

The Car Guide attended a media presentation yesterday and here’s what we learned.

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Mustang Mach-E Kicks Things Off

Called “Active Drive Assist,” the technology is highly sophisticated, so it makes sense to introduce it first on the upcoming Mustang Mach-E electric crossover, which is already available to order and set to arrive by the end of this year.

Select 2021 models will follow, though we don’t know their identities at this point. Ford promises to expand the tech to several models in the future so as many people as possible can take advantage of it.

Active Drive Assist will be compatible with more than 160,000 kilometres of divided highways in the U.S. and Canada, taking some stress out of long highway drives.

How does it work? An advanced infrared driver-facing camera will track eye gaze (even when wearing sunglasses) and head position to ensure drivers are paying attention to the road ahead.

Drivers will be notified by visual prompts on their instrument cluster when they need to return their attention to the road or resume control of the vehicle. If necessary, the system can slow the vehicle down until drivers are ready to focus back up.

By the way, Ford engineers have put it to the test over more than one million kilometres in various geographical conditions, including in Quebec.

For those customers among the first to order a Mustang Mach-E, Active Drive Assist hardware will be available as part of the Ford Co-Pilot360 Active 2.0 Prep Package at time of purchase.

Customers who purchase the prep package will have the opportunity to purchase Active Drive Assist software and receive the feature at a Ford EV certified dealer or via an over-the-air update sometime in the summer of 2021.

More Safety Enhancements

In addition to Active Drive Assist, the Ford Co-Pilot360 Active 2.0 Prep Package includes Active Park Assist 2.0, which enables the vehicle to take control of parking in parallel and perpendicular spaces with ease. It also offers Park Out Assist with side-sensing capability so drivers can navigate out of a parking spot when someone’s parked too close.

As for the standard Co-Pilot360 2.0 package on the Mustang Mach-E, it includes two enhancements to Ford’s Lane-Keeping System.

First, Road Edge Detection can sense the edges of a lane with visible lines or road with a clear edge, such as grass or dirt. The technology can then alert the driver if the vehicle is starting to drift out of the lane or off the road. Second, Blind Spot Assist identifies vehicles in a blind spot with a light on the side-view mirror, and then applies a nudge in the steering system to help prevent unsafe lane changes.

Wait, there’s more. When Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control stops the vehicle completely in traffic, it can now resume driving after up to 30 seconds instead of just three.

Finally, new Intersection Assist uses a camera and radar sensor to detect oncoming traffic while attempting to turn left. If there’s a risk of a potential collision, the vehicle can alert the driver and apply the brakes.

More details on package availability will be announced closer to the on-sale dates for those select 2021 model year vehicles.