Ford hands-free driving tech blamed for deadly DUI crash
The technology is already under investigation by the NHTSA
On Ford's (F) websites, the Dearborn-based automaker claims that its BlueCruise hands-free driving system is designed "to help make driving more easy, more enjoyable, and no more stressful," turning "stressful situations" equivalent to the day-to-day commute "into opportunities to refuel, physically and mentally, and arrive at your destination more energized."
Though Ford markets this technology as an effortless way for its drivers to "let go," a fresh development raises questions in regards to the security of this technology and similar tech installed in cars that drive alongside us.
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Any other deadly crash
Police in Pennsylvania are issuing double homicide charges against the driver they accuse of causing a motorway crash in Philadelphia that left two people dead back in March 2024, per a report by the Associated Press.
State and federal investigators say that 23-year-old pre-med student Dimple Patel became under the influence of alcohol when her Ford Mustang Mach-E hit the stationary car of Tolobek Esenbekov, who stopped on the left shoulder of Interstate ninety five to help out any other person, Aktilek Baktybekov, whose car broke down at around three a.m. on March three.
The resulting collision involved Four vehicles and killed both people.
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Investigators said that Patel became driving at about seventy one mph and using both Ford BlueCruise and Adaptive Cruise Control on the time of the crash. Local authorities argue, alternatively, that she should have been prepared to govern the auto.
“No partially automated vehicle technology should ever be left by myself to perform the driving tasks that helps you to be required to safely navigate the roads of the commonwealth,” the Pennsylvania State Police said in an announcement.
The fees that Patel is facing consist of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and involuntary manslaughter. Police say that she turned herself in on Sept. three on the costs filed.
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The motive force or the software?
Defense attorney Zak Goldstein told the AP that he hasn't seen the criminal complaint or any reports on the crash yet but also called the deaths a tragedy.
Nonetheless, he argues that the two deaths should no longer be placed on Patel but on Ford itself, noting that within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, DUI-related homicides require “that the DUI ended in the homicide.”
“If in actuality it’s a failure in a self-driving or a driving system, which may possibly no longer be a homicide by DUI whether or not the driver is intoxicated,” he told the AP, adding that the case may possibly be a main of its kind in Pennsylvania.
Under the microscope
Ford told the AP that it has collaborated with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the National Motorway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on the crash investigation.
The crash itself became the 2d of its kind in 2024, following a February 2024 crash on Interstate 10 in San Antonio, Texas, where any other Mach-E with BlueCruise enabled struck and killed the driver of a disabled Honda CR-V that became stranded within the heart lane without its lights on.
The NHTSA on April 29 said it had launched a preliminary investigation into Ford’s BlueCruise. The agency seeks to check whether a more widespread investigation is required and whether a recall to elevate its safety is necessary.
The probe will look into BlueCruise's abilities and the effectiveness of in-car driver monitoring cameras. Though BlueCruise is accessible on greater than one Ford and Lincoln models, documents say the probe will simplest center of attention on an estimated a hundred thirty,050 units of 2021-24 Mustang Mach-Es.
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