Ford unveils the 2022 Lincoln Navigator with hands-free driving

August 19, 2021: -Ford Motor is planning to expand its hands-free highway driving system to the automaker’s luxury Lincoln brand starting in the coming year with the 2022 Navigator SUV.

The system allows for hands-free driving on over 130,000 miles of dedicated highways in North America. It controls the speed and steering of the vehicle while also monitoring the driver’s attentiveness through an infrared camera system.

According to the company, the technology will be called ActiveGlide for Lincoln instead of BlueCruise, which is being used for the Ford brand.

The systems of Ford are similar to General Motors’ Super Cruise technology. They would also compete against Tesla’s Autopilot on Monday, which federal safety officials launched a formal investigation into due to reported crashes.

No vehicle is sold today as it is fully self-driving. All driver-assist systems still need drivers to pay attention.

Lincoln’s ActiveGlide will be standard on the top two trims of the Navigator. The company did not release pricing for the models of 2022. The average price paid for the SUV this year is nearly $92,000, says the officials.

The addition of ActiveGlide is part of a host of updates for Lincoln’s flagship SUV for the model year of 2022. It’s also adding two new interior options for its high-end Black Label model. Other changes also conclude interior and exterior design tweaks, over-the-air updates, and a built-in Amazon Alexa voice assistant.

or is our flagship for Lincoln. It is the ultimate expression of who the brand is,” Laura Clark, Navigator brand manager, told CNBC in an interview. “We are extremely proud of this vehicle.”

The Navigator SUV, which was redesigned in 2018, is a significant vehicle for Lincoln. According to Clark, it brings in younger, more affluent buyers and is responsible for about 33% of the brand’s conquest customers.

Navigator sales are up 33% through July compared to that timeframe a year earlier. The company sold 15,252 Navigator SUVs in the year 2020. By comparison, GM last year sold 24,547 Cadillac Escalades Navigator’s main competitor.