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Lewbo

But has it? Could Honda stats come through as GM sales? And still a Japanese one to come?

As always a guessing game….

Considering the losses it's absorbing, it may be concerning for some investors that Farley recently touted a fourfold increase in Ford's EV sales in 2023 to some 400,000 units. Thankfully, Ford still predominantly makes ICE vehicles, which it turns a profit on.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2023/08/13/ford-ceo-jim-farley-ev-sales-ford-stock-buy/

Acura has just revealed its first all-electric model. The ZDX made its debut at the Monterey Car Week with an anticipated 500 km of range, up to 500 hp, plus available Hands Free Cruise driving.

It's basically GM's Super Cruise with a different name, since the ZDX uses GM's Ultium EV platform underneath

https://www.autotrader.ca/editorial/20230817/2024-acura-zdx-debuts-as-brand-s-first-ev/

Lets hope its all models with GMs Supercruise...

In 2023, Honda's entire lineup is set to adapt the updated Honda Sensing safety features with 360° analysis that will give a hands free driving experience to the driver. The lineup includes cars like 2023 Honda CR-V, 2023 Honda HR-V, 2023 Honda Accord, 2023 Honda Civic Sedan etc.

https://www.carhp.com/news/honda-gets-active-safety-features-update

On the Type S, you can get AcuraWatch 360+ which brings Acura's first hands-off cruise control called, fittingly, "Hands Free Cruise." It works on 400,000 miles of mapped roads, which makes us think it may be a reskinned version of GM's Super Cruise.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2024-acura-zdx-first-look-review/

While you'll still take delivery of your ZDX at a dealer and sign the final paperwork there, ordering can be done there or at home through a dedicated website. Reservations open later this year with the first cars being delivered in early 2024.

The EQT’s tech suite is built around Mercedes’ MBUX software, albeit with a smaller seven-inch touchscreen to those found in its mainstream models. Changes over the combustion-engined T-Class includes a pair of analogue dials that display speed and energy usage - split by a 5.5-inch instrument binnacle display. A “Hey Mercedes” voice assistant is available at extra cost, but every EQT receives Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a DAB radio. Hill start assist, a driver fatigue monitor and lane keep assist are also included.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mercedes/t-class/354815/new-2023-mercedes-eqt-arrives-all-electric-mpv

See what the competition upto?

Smart Eye is recognized in the automotive industry as a leading provider of advanced and reliable in-cabin safety technology. But until recently, Smart Eye’s AI-powered Driver Monitoring System (DMS) software was not available to all vehicles, or an accessible option for all manufacturers.

After being approached by fleet operators to make this technology available for fleet vehicles, we started development on AIS: a system that would offer an ideal solution for fleets and vehicle manufacturers producing smaller volume.

In an unparalleled combination of advanced artificial intelligence and flexibility, AIS pairs our leading software with automotive-qualified hardware – developed in-house to work perfectly with our AI algorithms. The result is a cutting-edge in-cabin safety system – made to prevent fleet accidents and improve road safety.

In this blog, we dive into the unique advantages AIS offers fleet vehicles and small-volume car manufacturers – and how the benefits of an advanced DMS actually go beyond safety. From legislation compliance and cost avoidance to improved sustainability, these are some of the most important reasons to implement AIS in your vehicles:

https://smarteye.se/blog/5-ways-any-vehicle-benefits-from-a-driver-monitoring-system-dms/

2022 was a busy year for BMW as it celebrated the 50th birthday of its M division, and it doesn’t look like the German brand will be slowing down anytime soon. Read on to find out what to expect over the next few years.

New BMW models coming in 2023

https://www.carwow.co.uk/news/6613/new-bmw-models-coming-soon#gref

Why Ford Is Making BlueCruise Standard (Hint: Standard Doesn’t Mean Free)

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Wed, August 16, 2023 at 11:08 PM GMT+1·1 min read

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ford’s hands free highway driving technology bluecruise

Ford Makes BlueCruise Hardware StandardFord

The Ford Blue Cruise driver assistance system’s hardware will now come standard on capable vehicles.

Ford will activate the service through a subscription model with various tiers and pricing.

Ford offers BlueCruise for $800 a year, $75 a month, or $2100 for three years.

Ford is jumping onto the service subscription bandwagon with its BlueCruise hands-free driving system.

For 2024, every BlueCruise-capable vehicle will leave the factory with all the necessary hardware to operate the system, standard. That said, this doesn’t mean all of these vehicles will be able to use BlueCruise.

This is where the subscription comes into play. Ford will offer a tiered subscription model to make BlueCruise available for these vehicles at the customer’s behest.

This is good news for those that might not want to pay for BlueCruise at the point of sale, but wouldn’t mind adding it on for periods of time.

While this has been the case for the Ford Mustang Mach-E for some time, Ford is rolling this model out to the rest of the BlueCruise-available parts of its portfolio. That means that certain trim lines of the ’24 Ford F-150 Lightning, F-150 pickup, and Expedition will get BlueCruise hardware.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-ford-making-bluecruise-standard-220800522.html

4 out of 6 systems mentioned are SEE...

Hands-free driving options are not flying off the shelves at Ford, General Motors, and other automakers. Ford is offering buyers and lessees of some 500,000 2024 models a free 90-day trial of its BlueCruise feature to boost interest.

Customers who decide it’s a “gotta-have” feature will have the option to then pay for monthly or annual subscriptions. Customers can buy or lease a Ford with BlueCruise preactivated for 36 months for $2,100. The cost of the hands-free driving feature also can be bundled into vehicle financing. Buyers can purchase annual plans for $800 or for $75 monthly.

It’s a similar strategy automakers tried with satellite radio. Try and get the customer hooked with a short-term subscription and hope they want to keep it.

Ford BlueCruise uses an adaptive cruise control system and a lane-centering assist system to keep the vehicle centered in its lane and a certain distance from the other vehicles on the highway. Hands-free BlueCruise works on certain divided highways across the United States. The driver still needs to pay attention to the road and be ready to take over when the system requests it or when an emergency maneuver is needed. Even minor turns of the head elicit dashboard warnings to keep eyes on road.

GM’s Super Cruise uses cameras, sensors, GPS information and high-definition LiDAR map data to steer and maintain the vehicle’s position in the current lane. However, drivers must pay attention and keep their eyes on the road while using Super Cruise.

Nissan’s ProPilot 2.0 system can operate hands-free on over 200,000 miles of certain highways.

BMW’s Extended Traffic Jam Assistant provides hands-free driving at speeds up to 40 mph (64 km/h) on certain highways. BMW will introduce a new highway assistant allowing drivers to automatically maintain speeds up to 80 mph (129 km/h) and provide automatic lane changes hands-free.

Mercedes’ Drive Pilot is a hands-free driving system, the first Level 3 conditional automated drive system ever offered in the U.S., in the S-Class as well as the EQS electric sedan. With Level 3, the interior camera must see the driver’s face, but the driver can take their eyes off the road.

Tesla Full Self-Driving system is available on newer models with the appropriate hardware. Despite its name, Full Self-Driving isn’t yet a self-driving system, though Tesla says it will be at one point in the future. For the current Full Self-Driving system to have hands-free capability, owners must opt-in to the Beta version. Full-Self Driving Beta can operate hands-free on most regular roads or highways.

https://www.wardsauto.com/vehicles/ford-hopes-bluecruise-trials-will-boost-subscriptions

Heavy vehicle safety was in the spotlight recently at a breakfast forum hosted by Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils.

More than 90 delegates from across the region, attended the Central West NSW Heavy Vehicle Breakfast Forum, to explore the current road safety and freight issues affecting the local heavy vehicle industry.

The Councils' Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor, says the forum has become a regular fixture on the road safety calendar since its inception in 2012.

"Events like this forum are essential in providing opportunities to share information, network and discuss local issues," Ms Suitor said.

The forum was attended by local transport companies, truck drivers and farmers along with various associations and government agencies.

The topics covered included heavy vehicle access, driver fatigue, work diaries and supplementary records, Chain of Responsibility, NSW rest areas, the National Heavy Vehicle Law review and recommendations, Fresnel lenses and NSW Police crash investigation procedures.

Presenters were from NHVR, Transport for NSW, Ron Finemore Transport, National Transport Commission and NSW Police.

"Thank-you to all the guest speakers who made the forum informative and thought provoking for participants. And thank-you to everyone who attended.

"A special mention to Ron Finemore who so generously shared his company's experience with Seeing Machines' Driver Monitoring System. The effective use of this technology will profoundly reduce the frequency of fatigue and distraction events while driving.

https://www.parkes.nsw.gov.au/Council/News-and-media/Media-releases/Successful-Heavy-Vehicle-Breakfast-Forum-2023

Seeing Machines already has partnerships with automotive OEMs such as Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and General Motors. At the Euro Bus Expo, I was told of discussions with Switch Mobility and Tevva.

http://www.switchmobilityev.com/en

https://www.tevva.com/en

Australia – Last November, at the Euro Bus Expo in Birmingham, UK, I had the dubious pleasure of trying out a product by Seeing Machines. I was sat down in a bus driver’s seat facing a monitor and a camera. Told to let my mind wander, my eyes started to lose focus… In a split second, I was jerked rudely awake as the seat vibrated beneath me.

I had deliberately allowed myself to become inattentive; the driver of a bus or truck keeps his attention fixed on the road ahead and on road users and obstacles to either side of him. But the representatives from Seeing Machines told me that a tired driver can fall into repeated episodes of so-called “microsleep”, a moment of sleep or drowsiness lasting no more than a few seconds which can have devastating consequences in a job that requires constant alertness. Recent history furnishes us with plenty of tragic examples of collisions caused by sleepy drivers on motorways. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that in 2017, 91,000 police-reported crashes involved drowsy drivers and led to approximately 50,000 injuries and nearly 800 fatalities in the United States.

Seeing Machines has been working on this problem for over two decades, and the fruit of its efforts is ‘Guardian’, a driver monitoring system which has demonstrated a more than 90% reduction in fatigue-related driving risks through product testing. This AI-driven software uses facial cues to determine whether the driver has become inattentive and employs two kinds of alert – an audio alarm and seat vibrations – to bring the driver’s focus back to the road. During the product demonstration at the Euro Bus Expo, the camera trained on my face was picking up signs of distraction – a drooping face, wandering eyes – and feeding these to the software for split-second analysis and evaluation. In principle, the technology is identical to the vision-perception systems employed by self-driving vehicles, except that the camera is turned inwards, and the software is designed to pick up on slight changes in facial expression.

Intrigued by the product, I was determined to find out more about the company. The following is based on answers to queries sent over email.

https://truckandbusbuilder.com/article/2023/08/15/tbb-speaks-with-seeing-machines-specialist-in-ai-driver-monitoring-systems

The automotive industry is in the long process of a groundbreaking transformation, with electric vehicles (EVs) being promoted as the forefront of the evolution.

As we look ahead, governments marching in line with environmentalists suggest that the future of EVs promises to revolutionize transportation in ways we have never imagined. In this forward-looking article, we look into the world of EVs and explore the emerging technologies that will shape the future of mobility. And it may not all be electric.

The Electric Revolution: A Slow Movement Towards Sustainability

The shift towards electrification is no longer a distant dream but a global, not slow, movement promoted by media, governments, automakers, and some consumers. The desire is to reduce carbon emissions and embrace sustainable transportation. With an increasing focus on sustainability, the automotive industry is witnessing a profound transformation like never before.

One of the critical factors in the widespread adoption of EVs has been the continuous advancements in battery technology. Breakthroughs in battery chemistry, such as this 745-mile battery from Toyota, have resulted in EVs with longer driving ranges, faster charging, and improved performance. These developments are trying to alleviate range anxiety and make EVs more practical for everyday use.

However, as good as batteries might become, the success of EVs hinges on a robust charging infrastructure. It’s currently a slow process because of laws and weak electrical grids. In many areas, just putting in a charger takes two years.

Autonomous EVs: Redefining Mobility with Self-Driving Technology

Available charging aside, the future of EVs is also intrinsically tied to autonomous driving technology. Although continually litigated, Tesla’s self-driving features are still the standard, enhancing road safety and convenience. But GM’s Super Cruise, BMW’s Driving Assistant Professional, and others are showing promise.

The rise of autonomy is not just about hands-free driving; it also opens up new possibilities for shared autonomous fleets, which can transform transportation as we know it. But one could argue that a public that is pushing back against EVs most definitely won’t accept the restrictions inherent in shared autonomous fleets.

https://www.cbtnews.com/the-future-of-evs-a-glimpse-into-emerging-technologies/

The 2023 S-Class will also be equipped with advanced driver monitoring systems to ensure that a driver is paying attention when the car is under autonomous control. These monitoring systems include cameras and sensors that watch the driver’s head and eye movements. If the system detects that the driver is not giving ample attention to the road, it will issue warnings and eventually deactivate the Level 3 autonomy features.

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/the-2024-mercedes-eqs-sedan-and-s-class-pioneers-of-level-3-autonomy/

I am proud to share that our Ford and Lincoln customers using BlueCruise have spent 1.4 million hours enjoying hands-free highway driving – that is the equivalent of almost 160 years! Driving on the highway can feel like a chore or even stressful – whether you’re stuck in stop-and-go traffic or on a long trip. BlueCruise helps do some of the heavy lifting for you in prequalified highway Blue Zones, making your time behind the wheel more enjoyable and relaxing by assisting with various parts of driving such as: steering, pressing the gas and braking, or making automatic lane changes at the touch of a turn signal.

What I love most about my job is getting to see people experience BlueCruise for the first time and the WOW factor when they slowly take their hands off the wheel to let the technology go to work. Sometimes it can be intimidating to physically take your hands off the wheel, but as BlueCruise is engaged, we’ve seen that people are amazed and quickly become more confident to comfortably enjoy the ride – with their eyes on the road of course!

BlueCruise 1.3

It’s really exciting to see BlueCruise 1.3, the latest version of the software, start rolling out to Mustang Mach-E customers with BlueCruise-equipped vehicles later this summer via a software update. The handful of people who have had the chance to use BlueCruise 1.3, which offers an even better experience in hands-free mode, have told us they’re blown away! Some things we have heard already, like from tech enthusiast Marques Brownlee is that "This is honestly some of the smoothest highway driving from any system I've ever tried, which is super cool."

Starting in July, Mustang Mach-Es are shipping from the factory with BlueCruise 1.3. And, customers are given the option to try out the technology for 90-days before choosing to activate the service annually or monthly, or choose a 3-year BlueCruise activation at purchase. Customers can choose their terms, based on their lives. For example, if someone is heading out on a road trip for a weekend or longer, they could choose to activate BlueCruise for one month.

From Proactive earlier

McGlone said: “We are a trusted partner and industry leader with best-in-class DMS technology. [We work with] vehicles from General Motors, Mercedes Benz and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) to name a few.”

Seize

I dont think we have even announced a Ford model still from memory?

Standard is the word i like most. 2024 should certainly be the Year it all ramps up. Will take 2 or 3 more TPIs to really show the ramp up has begun from the middle of 2023.

Is it time to organise Lewbos boat party yet?

Ford Motor Co. is expanding the availability of its hands-free highway driving system by making BlueCruise hardware standard on several model year 2024 vehicles, giving customers the option to activate the system at any time rather than having to decide at the point of purchase.

The move, detailed Monday by the Dearborn automaker, will give customers who purchase certain 2024 vehicles the option to activate BlueCruise at purchase, annually or monthly. There is also the option for a free trial of the system. Before, customers had to decide at the time of purchase whether they wanted the BlueCruise hardware installed on their vehicle.

Ford plans to install the hardware as a standard feature on some 500,000 vehicles for numerous 2024 Ford and Lincoln models, including the Mustang Mach-E (on which it had already included BlueCruise hardware standard), the F-150 Lightning, the F-150, and the Ford Expedition.

https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2023/08/14/ford-to-include-bluecruise-hardware-standard-on-500k-2024-vehicles/70588926007/