Ford BlueCruise
Ford's BlueCruise is an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that represents a significant step forward in automotive technology, allowing drivers to take their hands off the wheel while driving on the highway.
I was part of a small tiger team tasked with reimagining the ideal BlueCruise experience, addressing many of the limitations of the current system, while laying the groundwork for the future of autonomous driving at Ford.
Less than 10% of Ford drivers have activated the BlueCruise feature. The current UI and steering wheel control felt like an interaction puzzle full of convoluted messaging and ambiguous inputs, resulting in a clear breakdown of trust between the driver and the vehicle.
I redesigned both the steering wheel controls and the driving UI to align closer to the intent of a driver on the highway, emphasizing glanceability to keep the driver's eyes on the road as often as possible, keeping it systematic and minimal by only showing what matters, and only when it matters, and explicit communication so there is no ambiguity in what the car is doing.
Since vehicle production cycles take several years, my team and I needed a quicker way to validate our designs. We put together an efficient way to prototype our designs and tested them through ride-along sessions with participants.
In order to demonstrate how the redesigned screens and buttons worked together, I created a highway simulation of the proposed experience, highlighting key moments in the experience such as getting on the highway, activating the feature, and changing lanes.
This prototype experience was used to help restructure Ford's roadmap to incorporate these designs into the 2026 vehicle lineup.
