Adaptive Hands-Free Towing
Advanced Driver Assist Systems have been getting smarter and smarter over the years. Developments in this space are visible across many brands. Ford is no stranger to this innovation, so much so that the brand has now delivered BlueCruise Hands-Free Towing.
In a nutshell, the system requires information to create a trailer profile, which it then uses to monitor, compensate for, and adjust for trailer sway, deceleration, and other factors that may affect towing safety. It’s a game-changer for users who want the added convenience of cruise control while towing, a feature Ford has just rolled out in the 2027 F-150.
How it Works
So, how does it work? Step zero is to subscribe to BlueCruise so you can use it. Once that is done, you can proceed to actually hook up the trailer to the car.
First, make sure your trailer has a profile for your BlueCruise-capable vehicle. It will ask for details like your trailer’s length, width, and height. This ensures the system knows how to compensate for factors that may affect trailer stability during a long highway journey. Note: You must create different profiles for different trailers. Another step is to ensure your trailer is within your vehicle’s maximum towing capacity.
For the Ford F-150, that’s 10,000 pounds. The system will prompt you if you are overweight and if there is any discrepancy with your tire pressures. If the system detects anything unusual or over the limit, it will refuse to activate.
After you create a trailer profile, hook it up to the vehicle and make sure the system recognizes it. After a few confirm or OK prompts, you can drive to Blue Zones, where the system will be available for use. These are pre-qualified highways where BlueCruise Towing can be utilized.
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Limitations
The aforementioned Blue Zones are the first limitation of the BlueCruise Hands-Free Towing feature. Only select highways will be available for users with this feature, which means smaller roads or unlogged highways are not supported for hands-free towing.
On top of that, the system will also detect road anomalies, like construction sites, and will turn off when it encounters them. In this scenario, the system will ask you to put your hands back on the wheel.
The system is also limited to a top speed of 75 miles per hour, though this is also close to the advertised top speed of the cruise control system, which is set at 80 miles per hour.
Finally, automatic lane repositioning and automatic lane changing are disabled when this feature is turned on, so drivers must steer manually for any lane-related adjustments.
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