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Ford BlueCruise Expands Flexibility with Complimentary Trial, Monthly or Annual Offers for Hands-Free Driving Tech | Ford Media Center

Ford F-150 Lightning Ford Expands BlueCruise Availability with Complimentary Trial, Monthly Or Annual Activation Lightning_BlueCruise_NEW

  • Building on its 225,000 Ford BlueCruise-equipped vehicles on the road today globally, Ford is projected to install BlueCruise hardware on an additional 500,000 vehicles for the 2024 model year in North America across Ford and Lincoln, expanding availability
  • With BlueCruise hardware included as standard from the factory on equipped vehicles, Ford is offering greater flexibility to customers to activate BlueCruise at any point during the vehicle ownership journey – at purchase, annually or even monthly
  • Customers who choose not to activate at time of order or vehicle purchase will be given a complimentary 90-day trial starting from purchase to experience hands-free highway driving and after that, can activate BlueCruise when and if they choose
  • Ford and Lincoln customers have spent 1.4 million hours enjoying and using BlueCruise and have driven 100 million hands-free miles and counting
DEARBORN, MICH., Aug. 14, 2023 – As Ford continues to evolve how the company offers products and services, this includes the way customers access BlueCruise – Ford’s hands-free highway driving technology. Ford now is including BlueCruise hardware standard from the factory to provide flexibility and choices to more customers.

Now, customers with equipped vehicles can choose to activate BlueCruise at any point during their vehicle ownership journey – at purchase, annually or even monthly – as well as have the opportunity to experience it through a complimentary trial if they choose not to activate at purchase. Ford is projected to install BlueCruise hardware on 500,000 vehicles for the 2024 model year in North America across Ford and Lincoln – expanding the availability onto more electric and gas-powered vehicles.

“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 – Ford Model e. “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.”

Ford customers who know and love BlueCruise can choose to order or purchase a vehicle with BlueCruise already activated for three years. It can be rolled into the financing as part of the vehicle purchase. For customers who want to try out BlueCruise first, they can use BlueCruise for 90 days from vehicle purchase during a complimentary trial. At the end of the trial or at any point during their vehicle ownership, customers can activate it on an annual or monthly basis. Plus, to meet the needs of active or occasional users, there is no minimum length commitment required to activate it. For example, a customer could activate the service for one month for a road trip and not activate it again for another year.

Previously, customers would have to decide when ordering the vehicle if they wanted BlueCruise so the hardware could be installed. Now, Ford is removing this burden from customers, not forcing them to decide upfront if they might want access to this technology.

Expanding BlueCruise Flexible Offering to Additional Vehicle Lines

According to the results of an S&P Global Mobility study from March, consumers are willing to activate connected-car services that add value if they have the chance to try them first. In fact, 82% of respondents who had experienced a free trial or an existing connected service plan said they would “definitely” or “probably” consider purchasing a connected service on a future new vehicle purchase.

Ford first applied this approach on the Mustang Mach-E, and the company now is expanding this flexibility on all 2024 model year vehicles where BlueCruise is available – F-150 Lightning, Ford F-150 and Ford Expedition.*

BlueCruise activation for Ford customers costs $2,100 for three years at time of order or vehicle purchase. If a customer chooses not to activate upfront, after their complimentary trial they can choose an annual plan for $800 or a monthly plan for $75. If a customer chooses to forego activating BlueCruise, they can continue to experience Adaptive Cruise Control, which lets the driver set a cruising speed and distance from the vehicle ahead, including in stop-and-go traffic.

Expanding BlueCruise Offering for Lincoln Vehicles

The company also is expanding the BlueCruise offering for Lincoln customers. Now, all series of the 2024 Lincoln Navigator and Lincoln Nautilus and select trims of Lincoln Corsair will come equipped with BlueCruise hardware.** BlueCruise will also be available for the first time on the all-new Nautilus when it launches early next year.

Based on the vehicle trim, Navigator and Nautilus customers will receive either four years of BlueCruise access included at purchase or a 90-day complimentary trial with the option to choose an annual plan for $800 or a monthly plan for $75 and activate it at any point during the vehicle ownership. Corsair trims built with the BlueCruise hardware, will receive four years of access included at purchase.

BlueCruise Will Continue to Improve

BlueCruise can add value to highway driving time, helping make stop-and-go traffic for a daily commute or a long road trip easier and more enjoyable.† Customers have spent 1.4 million hours enjoying BlueCruise to date, and the number of miles driven has grown by more than 40% since the end the first quarter, reaching more than 100 million miles and counting.

Ford is continuing to improve BlueCruise with a dedicated in-house team of advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) engineers. There are currently 225,000 Ford and Lincoln vehicles equipped with BlueCruise hardware on the road today globally. By adding additional BlueCruise-equipped vehicles, Ford’s ADAS team can continue to use the power of large-scale data, which customers have agreed and opted-in to share with Ford, to deploy improvements and features to vehicles through software updates.

Earlier this year, Ford rolled out BlueCruise 1.2 and will soon be rolling out BlueCruise 1.3, first to 2021-2023 Mustang Mach-E vehicles equipped with BlueCruise hardware. The latest generation of BlueCruise software makes hands-free highway driving even better. It has improved performance when driving around curves and in narrow lanes. For example, based on our internal testing, BlueCruise 1.3 stayed engaged in hands-free mode for an average of 5X longer compared to BlueCruise 1.0, the first version of BlueCruise.

Customers can verify their BlueCruise access and status as well as renew the service via the FordPass App and Ford Account under Connected Services. If the vehicle has Ford BlueCruise capabilities, it will appear under Connected Services and include the status as well as the date the BlueCruise active service plan began.

For more information visit ford.com/bluecruise.

# # #

*Ford BlueCruise requires a Connected Service plan that provides regular map updates, FordPass® App, and modem activation. Ford BlueCruise-equipped vehicles come with either a 90-day trial or a 3-year BlueCruise Connected Service plan, after which purchase is required. See ford.com/bluecruise for BlueCruise availability and version details. See the Connected Services section of your Ford Account for your BlueCruise Connected Service plan status and available plan options.

**Lincoln BlueCruise requires a Connected Service plan that provides regular map updates, Lincoln Way® App and modem activation. Lincoln BlueCruise-equipped vehicles come with either a 90-day trial or a 2 or 4-year BlueCruise Connected Service plan, after which purchase is required. See your retailer to confirm BlueCruise Connected Service plan options for your vehicle. Owners, see the Connected Services section of your Lincoln Account for your BlueCruise Connected Service plan status.

†Driver-assist features are supplemental and do not replace the driver’s attention, judgment and need to control the vehicle. BlueCruise is a hands-free highway driving feature. Only remove hands from the steering wheel when in a Hands-Free Blue Zone. Always watch the road and be prepared to resume control of the vehicle. It does not replace safe driving. See Owner’s Manual for details and limitations.
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RickLightning

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Paid $600 for 3 years on both Mach-E and Lightning in purchase price. $800 a year is too much. $75 a month will be what we take, if anything, and only for a long trip.
 

Zprime29

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Yeah....I'm not feeling it for $75. It's good, but not that good. I don't road trip enough to get my money's worth.
 

The Weatherman

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I’m a firm supporter of the technology, but not at $800 a year. I might reactivate for a month if I was planning to travel. Key word ‘might.’
 

swajames

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Interested to see how this plays out. The window sticker on my 2022 lists Blucruise as an included feature and makes absolutely no reference to any trial period (I understand later ones did).

Perhaps the updates such as 1.3 make some subscription cost palatable, but I won't be happy if Ford tries to turn it off in a year or two.

As an aside, that's yet another Ford release about Blucruise that fails to take the opportunity to explicitly confirm that 1.3 is coming to the Lightning.

Ford F-150 Lightning Ford Expands BlueCruise Availability with Complimentary Trial, Monthly Or Annual Activation Screenshot 2023-08-14 at 4.28.23 PM
 

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Interested to see how this plays out. The window sticker on my 2022 lists Blucruise as an included feature and makes absolutely no reference to any trial period (I understand later ones did).

Perhaps the updates such as 1.3 make some subscription cost palatable, but I won't be happy if Ford tries to turn it off in a year or two.

As an aside, that's yet another Ford release about Blucruise that fails to take the opportunity to explicitly confirm that 1.3 is coming to the Lightning.

Screenshot 2023-08-14 at 4.28.23 PM.png
Look at your Connected Services page. If you don't have an expiration date, congratulations. You're the only one.

Ford F-150 Lightning Ford Expands BlueCruise Availability with Complimentary Trial, Monthly Or Annual Activation Screenshot_20230814_154225_Chrome
 

Yellow Buddy

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Yeah....I'm not feeling it for $75. It's good, but not that good. I don't road trip enough to get my money's worth.
I think it depends on the trip. I did about 5,000 miles last month and I could see and appreciate being able to pay $75 for that one month instead of $800.

In the same manner, I activated ABRP for the month for $5. EA for $12. And since it was unreliable EVGo for $8. I also added XM since cell was spotty for $11…you know what? I’ll just fly next time.
 

swajames

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Look at your Connected Services page. If you don't have an expiration date, congratulations. You're the only one.

Screenshot_20230814_154225_Chrome.jpg
oh I think we all have an expiration date on that page. But we’re not yet in 2025, and not everyone has an unqualified window sticker which makes no reference to a time limit or trial period. So some interesting times ahead of us when ford wants to start charging.
 

GDN

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They don't list models, they just note that it will be installed on more eligible vehicles - then the owner can choose to activate at purchase or later on a monthly, annual or longer basis. Similar to Tesla, just build the hardware into all vehicles - then it can be activated or not.

I haven't been super impressed on my trials and don't drive enough to justify any of the costs. Maybe one months worth if I were taking a long driving vacation, but it has been quite a few years since that happened.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/...be-available-as-a-subscription-200525088.html
 

mattskr

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oh I think we all have an expiration date on that page. But we’re not yet in 2025, and not everyone has an unqualified window sticker which makes no reference to a time limit or trial period. So some interesting times ahead of us when ford wants to start charging.
Mine's a '23 Platinum and looks just like your window sticker (except deleted heated steering and motion seats). No reference to a trial anywhere.
 

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RickLightning

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I think it depends on the trip. I did about 5,000 miles last month and I could see and appreciate being able to pay $75 for that one month instead of $800.

In the same manner, I activated ABRP for the month for $5. EA for $12. And since it was unreliable EVGo for $8. I also added XM since cell was spotty for $11…you know what? I’ll just fly next time.
EA is $4 for Pass+. Soon to be $7. Not $12. I haven't found any reason to pay for ABRP, use the free version.
 

tomjackbear

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How about this:

Ford+

$20/mo includes BlueCruise, Hotspot and Connected Services (e.g. YouTube over cellular)

Razor thin margins but at that price point the subscriber base would be huge.

Wall Street will love it.
 

Pioneer74

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They don't list models, they just note that it will be installed on more eligible vehicles - then the owner can choose to activate at purchase or later on a monthly, annual or longer basis. Similar to Tesla, just build the hardware into all vehicles - then it can be activated or not.

I haven't been super impressed on my trials and don't drive enough to justify any of the costs. Maybe one months worth if I were taking a long driving vacation, but it has been quite a few years since that happened.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/...be-available-as-a-subscription-200525088.html
It's all the models that currently have it available.

Ford first applied this approach on the Mustang Mach-E, and the company now is expanding this flexibility on all 2024 model year vehicles where BlueCruise is available – F-150 Lightning, Ford F-150 and Ford Expedition.
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...nthly-or-annual-activation.16401/#post-330977
 

sotek2345

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Not really a fan of the subscription based model, but I understand where Ford is trying to go with it. I suspect that they will make less money on it over time, but I have not run any real numbers on it.

Depending on cost, I might spring for it when I am doing longer road trips, but I do know I would use it far less than I do now. There is just something about making the decision to spend the money each time vs. just spending more to buy it up front with the vehicle and using it whenever you want.
 

G-Zeus

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EA is $4 for Pass+. Soon to be $7. Not $12. I haven't found any reason to pay for ABRP, use the free version.
I just used the paid version of ABRP for a long road trip. I bought an ODBC Bluetooth dongle to provide ABRP with the real-time SoC. All of the live features for traffic, weather, SoC... it was so nice to see the projected SoC at my next destination on the CarPly integrated map. It was perfectly accurate every time. Now if they could only integrate with PlugShare, that would be ideal!
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