Ford BlueCruise Review in F-150 Lightning | Easy truckin'

SAN ANTONIO — During our first drive of the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning, we had the opportunity to test out its BlueCruise advanced driver assistance feature. Like GM’s Super Cruise, Ford BlueCruise allows you to take your hands off the wheel on certain, preordained stretches of limited-access, divided highway.

So far, BlueCruise is only available on select models, namely the Ford Mustang Mach-E and 2022 F-150. (The Lincoln version, called ActiveGlide, is also available in the 2022 Navigator). Now the F-150 Lightning — the brand’s high-tech but otherwise familiar foray into the nascent electric pickup market — also offers BlueCruise. For this truck, BlueCruise comes as standard equipment in the range-topping Platinum trim, and is also available as an option in the Lariat.

From a technical perspective, BlueCruise uses the vehicle’s GPS and navigation data to know where it can be activated. It uses adaptive cruise control, lane-centering and road sign recognition software — as well as the forward-facing camera and radar hardware that powers them, to steer, accelerate and brake the vehicle, keeping it in its lane and a safe following distance behind any other vehicles ahead. Inside the vehicle, cameras on the driver’s side A-pillar and just to the left of the infotainment screen on the dash monitor your gaze to make sure you’re paying attention to the road and remain ready to retake control of the steering.

Here’s how it works from a practical standpoint: First, you need to activate adaptive cruise control. When you’re on a predetermined, geofenced part of the highway where the system is allowed to activate (Ford dubs these “Blue Zones,” of which there are 130,000 miles in North America so far), a message on the left side of the instrument panel will let you know you can take your hands off the wheel.