Ford used CES 2026 not for a bombastic keynote, but for a low-key flex: an AI assistant that starts on your phone and a cheaper, more capable generation of BlueCruise that lays the groundwork for eyes-off driving.
An AI copilot that actually knows your truck
On Wednesday at CES 2026, Ford said it’s building a new digital assistant that will first live in the revamped Ford smartphone app in early 2026, before making its way into vehicles in 2027.
A few key details matter here:
- Runs on Google Cloud
- Built on off‑the‑shelf large language models (LLMs)
- Given deep access to vehicle‑specific data
That last point is the differentiator. Because the assistant can tap detailed data about your specific vehicle, Ford says it will be able to handle both:
- High‑level, contextual questions – like “How many bags of mulch can my truck bed support?”
- Granular, real‑time queries – like checking remaining oil life on demand.
In other words, this isn’t just a generic chatbot bolted onto a car app. It’s an LLM with a direct line into the kind of specs and telemetry that usually live in manuals, PDFs and buried menu trees.
Ford will roll the assistant out inside its refreshed Ford app in early 2026. A native, in‑vehicle experience will follow in 2027, though the company isn’t saying yet which models get it first.
Playing catch‑up with Tesla and Rivian
Ford didn’t fully spell out what the in‑car experience will look like. But the competitive bar is already high.
- Rivian recently demoed its own assistant handling text messages, complex navigation requests and climate controls.
- Tesla has wired Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot into its vehicles, with owners already using it to spin up on‑the‑fly sightseeing tours.
Some of that may go beyond what Ford is planning right away, but the company has a year to tune how the assistant works behind the wheel before it shows up in cars.
What’s notable is where Ford chose to make the news. This was one of the only major automaker announcements at CES this year, and it wasn’t rolled out with lasers and a stadium‑sized screen. Instead, Ford dropped the details during a “Great Minds” speaker session about the intersection of technology and humanity.
Next‑gen BlueCruise: cheaper hardware, bigger promises
Alongside the AI assistant, Ford also teased the next generation of BlueCruise, its advanced driver assistance system.
The headline: the new BlueCruise hardware stack will be 30% cheaper to build than the current system, according to Ford. Cost matters here, because it determines how widely the tech can show up across Ford’s lineup instead of being gated to high‑end trims.
Ford plans to launch this next‑gen BlueCruise in 2027 on the first EV built on its new low‑cost “Universal Electric Vehicle” platform, which it expects will debut as a mid‑sized pickup.
Beyond cost, Ford is ratcheting up what BlueCruise will be able to do:
- Eyes‑off driving targeted for 2028. Ford says this roadmap leads to drivers being able to take their eyes off the road under certain conditions in 2028.
- “Point‑to‑point autonomy.” The company also claims the system will eventually handle point‑to‑point driving, similar to what Tesla offers today with its Full Self‑Driving (Supervised) software.
Rivian has also teased its own point‑to‑point system arriving later this year.
Still supervised, whatever the branding
The language sounds bold — “eyes‑off,” “point‑to‑point,” “Full Self‑Driving” — but one line from Ford’s announcement is crucial:
All of these systems still require drivers to be ready to take control at any moment.
That includes Tesla’s FSD (Supervised), Rivian’s upcoming system and Ford’s BlueCruise roadmap. This is driver assistance, not a car you can legally nap in.
So while Ford is promising more capable automation by 2028, it’s still operating within today’s regulatory and safety expectations: the human stays in the loop.
Why this matters
Ford’s CES 2026 message boils down to two bets:
- AI that’s deeply wired into your vehicle will make owning and operating it less painful than digging through manuals or menus.
- Cheaper driver‑assist hardware will let Ford spread BlueCruise‑style features across more mainstream EVs — starting with that upcoming mid‑size electric pickup.
Ford isn’t the loudest automaker at CES anymore. But by quietly tying its future EV platform, Google Cloud‑hosted AI and a cheaper BlueCruise into a single roadmap stretching from 2026 to 2028, it’s sketching out how the company wants its cars to feel: more conversational, more automated and, at least on paper, more affordable to equip with advanced tech.
