Ford Takes Big Step Towards Autonomy With Hands-Free Assist

It was back in 2016 that Ford first announced its plan to put a high-volume fully autonomous vehicle on the road by 2021. It remains to be seen whether the launch will be as grand as Ford had made it seem, but the company remains as committed as ever to the idea of autonomous driving technology, today announcing a brand new semi-autonomous system arriving next year: Active Drive Assist.

The feature will bow in the all-new 2021Ford F-150and 2021Ford Mustang Mach-Efirst, the hardware available as a reasonably-priced option on some trims, and standard equipment toward the top end of the range.

Active Driving Assist is similar in scope and function to Cadillac's hands-free Super Cruise system, only operable on certain pre-mapped stretches of road - 100,000 miles of "Hands-Free Zone" in North America so far. But where that system was keptrelatively low-volume for years, Ford is expecting to sell some 100,000 Active Drive Assist-capable vehicles their its first year on the market.

"Democratization" of autonomous driving technology is the name of the game, with Ford's Chief Product Platform and Operations Officer, Hau Thai-Tang, remarking: "As breakthroughs in new technology allow us to help reduce the stress of long highway drives, it's important to make sure these capabilities can be enjoyed by the largest spread of people possible."