Ford is betting that true hands-free driving will not stay a luxury perk for long. The company is plotting a Level 3 “eyes-off” system for a new generation of electric vehicles that start around $30,000, targeting the kind of mass-market reach that has so far eluded advanced driver assistance. The move positions Ford directly against Tesla-style automation, but with a different technical recipe and a clear promise to make Autonomy feel routine rather than rarefied.
From BlueCruise to Level 3: Ford’s next leap
Ford’s current highway assistant, BlueCruise, already lets drivers take their hands off the wheel on mapped roads, as long as they keep their eyes on the traffic ahead and are ready to intervene. Independent evaluations have noted that the Ford system is designed so drivers can leave their hands off the steering wheel for long periods of time, while still requiring constant attention, a balance that has helped it score well in comparisons with Tesla’s automation in testing by Ford. Dealer explanations describe BlueCruise as a feature that uses pre-mapped “hands-free” zones, camera monitoring of the driver, and adaptive cruise control to create what they call a more autonomous than ever before experience, a “Hands Free Way to Drive, Meet” the future of commuting.
What Ford is now promising goes a step further, into Level 3 territory where the car, not the human, is legally in charge in specific conditions. At CES, executives outlined plans to debut eyes-off Level 3 autonomous driving in 2028 on an upcoming compact electric pickup that is expected to anchor a $30,000 lineup, describing how the system will allow drivers to look away from the road and engage in other tasks while the vehicle manages the trip in defined scenarios, a capability framed as Ford using CES to preview Level 3 eyes-off driving. The company has also confirmed that this eyes-off self-driving is coming to its $30k EVs, tying the technology roadmap directly to a new electric platform and citing hard lessons learned from the F-150 Lightning as it commits to a more disciplined cost structure for a mass-market truck and crossover family, a strategy spelled out when Ford Confirms Eyes Off Self Driving Is Coming To Its affordable Lightning-inspired EVs.
LiDAR, “Vehicle Brain,” and the in-house software bet
Under the hood, Ford is taking a different path from Tesla by leaning on LiDAR and centralized computing instead of camera-only perception. Product chief Doug Field has said Ford’s Level 3 offering will use LiDAR, a laser-based remote-sensing technology, as part of a sensor stack that feeds a powerful central controller, a choice that contrasts with Elon Musk’s insistence that cameras alone can deliver autonomy and that was highlighted when Field said Ford’s Level 3 system will rely on LiDAR. The company is pairing that hardware with what it calls a “Vehicle Brain,” a consolidated computing architecture that pulls together driver assistance, connectivity, and infotainment into one updatable platform, a concept it has described as part of a future electric vehicle platform that will showcase how Ford will Offer Eyes Off Driving and a more capable Vehicle Brain.
To make that work at $30,000 price points, Ford is bringing more of the tech stack in-house. Executives have said the company will be making its own hardware and software to deploy eyes-off driving capabilities, rather than relying on third-party suppliers, and that the goal is to keep the experience the same across the board so a driver moving from a compact pickup to a crossover sees identical behavior from the system, a plan detailed when Ford announced on Wednesday that it would deliver eyes-off driving in 2028. The company’s own tech strategy documents frame this as part of “Democratizing Autonomy,” arguing that Autonomy should not be a premium feature and that by designing its own software and hardware, Ford can spread advanced driver assistance and a smarter “Brain Inside” across mainstream models instead of reserving it for luxury trims, a philosophy laid out in its vision for Democratizing Autonomy.
Mass-market stakes and the Tesla comparison
The competitive subtext is clear: Ford wants to match or beat Tesla’s promise of automated driving, but do it in a way that regulators and mainstream buyers can accept. Company officials have pointed out that even Tesla’s Full Self-Driving still requires drivers to supervise the system and keep their eyes on the road, while Ford is targeting a certified eyes-off experience in limited conditions for a $30k EV, a contrast drawn explicitly when Off Self Driving Is Coming To Its new electric lineup. Earlier evaluations of hands-free options have already noted that Ford BlueCruise allows drivers to leave their hands off the steering wheel for long periods of time while the system manages speed and lane position, and that this approach, which still requires an attentive driver, has compared favorably with Tesla’s more intervention-prone system in testing of Ford BlueCruise and other hands-free options.
Ford is also using the Level 3 rollout to anchor a broader Universal EV lineup that is meant to scale globally. At CES, the company said it would introduce eyes-off autonomous driving in 2028 as part of that Universal EV family, using the stage to signal that Level 3 capability is not a science project but a core feature of its next-generation architecture, a message underscored when Ford used the CES spotlight to confirm Level 3 eyes-off autonomous driving coming in 2028. Additional reporting has noted that the first application will be an upcoming $30K EV pickup, with the same platform expected to underpin crossovers and other body styles in just a few years, a roadmap described when Ford Will debut eyes-off autonomous driving on its upcoming Universal EV. If Ford can hit those targets, the shift from today’s supervised BlueCruise to tomorrow’s eyes-off Level 3 could mark the moment when advanced automation stops being a tech demo and becomes a standard expectation in a $30,000 driveway.
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