US opens investigation into Ford crashes involving Blue Cruise partially automated driving system

DETROIT — Two fatal crashes involving Ford’s Blue Cruise partially automated driving system have attracted the attention of U.S. auto safety regulators.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into the crashes, both involving Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles, on highways under nighttime lighting conditions, the agency said in documents Monday.

The agency’s initial investigation into the crashes, which killed three people, determined that the Blue Cruise was in use just before the collisions.

One of the crashes occurred in February in San Antonio, Texas, killing one person, while the other occurred in Philadelphia in March, in which two people died.

The agency says the investigation will evaluate how Blue Cruise performs driving tasks as well as its camera-based driver monitoring system.

Ford said Monday it was working with NHTSA to support the investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board, already investigating the Feb. 24 San Antonio crash, determined in a preliminary report that it was operating on Blue Cruise.

The NTSB can only make recommendations, but NHTSA has the authority to take action, including requesting recalls for safety concerns.

Ford says on its website that its driving systems are not a replacement for human drivers, who must be ready to take control at a moment’s notice.

The accident occurred in Texas on Interstate 10 in San Antonio. The NTSB report says the Mach E struck the rear of a 1999 Honda CR-V that was stopped in the middle of three lanes around 9:50 p.m. The 56-year-old driver of the CR-V was killed.

Another driver who managed to avoid the CR-V told investigators that neither his taillights nor his hazard lights were working at the time.

The NTSB said it intends to issue safety recommendations to prevent similar accidents. The company said it opened the investigation because of continued interest in advanced driver assistance systems and how vehicle drivers interact with new technology.

The other crash involving a Mach E killed two people around 3:20 a.m. March 3 in the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania State Police said Thursday that a Mach E was in the left lane when it struck a stopped Hyundai Elantra that had previously collided with a Toyota Prius.

The Mach E struck the Hyundai, pushing it into the rear of the Prius. During the crash, the driver of the Prius, who was outside his vehicle, was also struck and thrown into the southbound lanes, according to the release.

A police spokeswoman said a person in the Hyundai was also on the road and was struck. The two victims, men aged 21 and 20, were pronounced dead at the scene.

A police news release on the crash says a criminal investigation is underway and a charge of motor vehicle homicide with driving under the influence is possible against the 23-year-old woman behind the wheel of the Mach E .

Ford’s Blue Cruise system allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel while it handles steering, braking and acceleration on highways. The company says the system is not fully autonomous and that it monitors drivers to ensure they are paying attention to the road. It works on 97 percent of controlled-access highways in the United States and Canada, Ford says.

There are no fully autonomous vehicles sold to the public in the United States.

NHTSA and the NTSB have investigated several previous accidents involving partially automated driving systems.

Last week, NHTSA began investigating whether Tesla’s proposed fix for a December recall involving more than 2 million vehicles equipped with the company’s Autopilot automated system had fixed the problem. The recall was carried out because the driver monitoring system was inadequate and posed a safety risk.

NHTSA said it ultimately found 467 crashes involving Autopilot, resulting in 54 injuries and 14 deaths.