Hands-free Fords soon

Alot of cars have level 2 autonomy these days, but none will legally let you take your hands off the wheel. Ford’s systemwill. The new system is called Active Drive Assist (ADA), the crown jewel of Ford’s Co-pilot 360 driver assist suite, arriving first on the Mustang Mach-e electric SUV before hitting other 2021 products.

However, Mach-e buyers will need to spec the Active 2.0 Prep package first, a factory option that installed all the required hardware for ADA.

Then, in the second half of 2021, Ford will sell the software upgrade to enable ADA, set to be available either at Ford dealers or over-the-air.

So basically, you’ll need to buy two things to get hands-free driving in your 2021 Ford.

There isn’t any pricing yet but that probablywon’t be a cheap endeavour, although Ford’s global programmes director for BEVS, Darren Palmer, told Motor1.com that pricing for the total system ‘‘will be highly competitive’’.

‘‘We want as many people to have [ADA] as possible,’’ Palmer said.

Adawill work like GM’S Super Cruise system. It uses exterior sensors and premapped sections of road to allow total hands-off driving, though the driver should still remain alert and ready to take control. Ford has currentlymapped about 160,000km ofnorth American roads, but that only covers divided highways.

Don’t expect ADA to land innew Zealand any time soon though. While Tesla can offer Autopilot functionality here, that system legally requires users to keep their hands on the wheel while active, despite what the namemight indicate. Ford’s system needs pre-existing map data to work, and we don’t have the right infrastructure yet.

A Mustang Mach-e driving all by itself. Ford’s autonomous tech will eventually roll out to other models too.