GM, Cruz suing Ford to ban use of ‘BlueCruise’ name

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General Motors and its subsidiary Cruise robo-taxi have sued to prevent Ford Motor Co. from using the “BlueCruise” name to market hands-free driving technology, the two companies said Saturday.

In a statement issued shortly after midnight Detroit time, GM said Ford’s use of the BlueCruise name infringes GM’s Super Cruise brand, as well as the Cruze brand.

“While GM hoped to amicably resolve the issue of trademark infringement with Ford, we had no choice but to vigorously defend our brands and protect the proprietary rights that our products and technology have acquired over several years in the market,” GM said in its statement.

GM said in the lawsuit filed on Friday that the automakers had “lengthy discussions” about the matter but failed to resolve the dispute.

GM alleges trademark infringement and unfair competition in the lawsuit. US automaker No. 1 has asked the court for an order barring Ford from using the BlueCruise name and unspecified damages.

Ford described the lawsuit in federal court in California as “useless and frivolous.”

“Drivers have understood for decades what cruise control is, and every automaker offers it, and ‘cruise’ is a common acronym for capability,” Ford said in a statement. “That’s why BlueCruise was chosen as the name for the Blue Oval’s next evolution of Ford’s intelligent adaptive cruise control system.”

Automakers are racing with each other to deploy technology to enable drivers to take their hands off the wheel in traffic jams or on highways. So-called advanced driver assistance systems, such as Tesla’s semi-automatic autopilot technology, are not supposed to allow drivers to fully disengage from driving for extended periods.

Automakers have used the word cruise for decades to describe cruise control systems that allow drivers to set the speed a vehicle will maintain, usually in highway driving.

“Ford knew what it was doing,” General Motors said in the lawsuit. “Ford’s decision to change its brand with a core brand used by General Motors and Cruze will inevitably lead to confusion.”

General Motors announced in 2012 that it would use the Super Cruise name for its hands-free driver assistance technology, and has been marketing the technology using that name since 2017.

The autonomous vehicle unit Cruise, owned by General Motors, has been in operation since 2013.

Ford announced that it will use the BlueCruise name for its hands-free driving technology in April of this year.

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