Ford has AI Assistant and new hands-free BlueCruise technology on the way

Ford is developing an artificial intelligence assistant that will debut in the company’s smartphone app, before expanding to its vehicles in 2027, the company announced Wednesday at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. The company also teased the next generation of its BlueCruise advanced driver assistance system, which is cheaper to manufacture and more capable — eventually leading to sightless driving in 2028.

Wednesday’s announcement was one of the only ones to come from a major automaker at CES, marking a sharp turnaround from late 2010 when it dominated the show. And it wasn’t presented in a flashy main event; Instead, Ford discussed the news in a speaker session called “Great Minds” that was intended to “explore the intersection between technology and humanity.”

Ford says its digital assistant is hosted by Google Cloud and will be built using off-the-shelf LLMs, and the company gives it deep access to vehicle-specific information. This means the assistant can answer high-level questions like “How many bags of mulch can my truck bed support?” But it also means owners will be able to request accurate, real-time information such as oil life.

The company will roll out the assistant in Ford’s newly revamped app in early 2026. Native in-car integration will come in 2027, though the company hasn’t specified which models it’s prioritizing.

Ford hasn’t gone into great detail about what the in-car experience will look like, but it’s not hard to imagine the possibilities when looking at some of the most tech-advanced automakers.

Just last month, Rivian showed off its own digital assistant for sending and receiving text messages, handling complex navigation requests, and changing climate controls. Tesla integrated Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok into its cars, which customers used to create sightseeing tours on the spot. Some of these capabilities may be beyond what Ford has in mind, but the automaker also has a full year to figure out in-car integration.

The new BlueCruise system announced Wednesday is 30% cheaper to build than current technology, according to Ford. It will debut in 2027 as the first electric vehicle built on the company’s low-cost “global electric vehicle” platform, which is expected to be a mid-size pickup truck.

Ford is promising more with its next-generation BlueCruise system, including blind driving in 2028. But it also claims the system will be able to handle “point-to-point autonomy,” similar to what Tesla offers with its Full Self-Driving (Surveillance) program. Rivian has also teased a point-to-point system coming later this year. All of these systems require drivers to be ready to take control of the car at any moment.