GM's battle to end Ford's use of BlueCruise name comes to an end
GM earlier this year sued Ford over the use of the BlueCruise name. Now, the two plan to settle the suit out of court.
Ford and General Motors' lawyers can stand down. On Monday, the two automakers agreed to settle GM's lawsuit against Ford out of court. The suit concerned Ford's BlueCruise hands-free driving assistant. Reuters first reported the news, citing a court notice filed this past Friday.
Ford said in a statement, "We're planning to settle the lawsuit with GM and have no further comment at this time." The automaker added BlueCruise will still head to additional vehicles in the near future and that there would be more news at a later date. GM said in its own statement, "The parties have resolved the case and related proceedings amicably. At this time, we have no further comment."
No details about the settlement are available, though it's evident Ford will be able to use its BlueCruise name still.
GM originally sued Ford over the name, arguing that "BlueCruise" infringed on its own trademarks for "Super Cruise" and its Cruise subsidiary's business name. The automaker said this past July after filing the lawsuit that it held discussions with Ford hoping to resolve the issue in a friendly manner, but had "no choice" but to defend its brands. Ford countered and said, "GM has had zero issue with other 'cruise' names," citing Hyundai's Smart Cruise Control and BMW's Active Cruise Control. "We think GM Cruise's claim ... is meritless and frivolous."
But, now, it's all just a passing wind. Both GM and Ford plan to continue expanding their hands-free driving systems to additional vehicles in the years to come. Super Cruise and BlueCruise are both Level 2 driver-assist systems on the SAE Scale of Autonomy.
