SUMMARY

In the film, we see Arlene Ngalle-Paryani and her son, Darien Lopez, inside a Ford Mach-E, driving on a highway. There’s a familiar, awkward silence and tension between them — a teenager who doesn’t want to talk to his mother and a mother who is concerned about her son. Arlene turns on BlueCruise (Ford’s hands-free driving technology), and it’s only then that we realize that both Arlene and Darien are deaf and use sign language to speak. The conversation begins, the atmosphere changes, Darien starts to open up, and we leave the moment as the conversation continues. 

BACKGROUND 

Ford’s ambition is to help everyone move and pursue their dreams, and that’s why we keep inventing products and services that enable people to do so. But with rising anxiety around AI, self-driving cars, and vehicle electrification, we wanted to remind people that our technology is all in service of one thing — YOU — regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or physical ability. 

IMPACT 

The film had over 100 million impressions across channels less than three weeks after it first aired. Media outlets like The New York Times and Forbes picked up the story, and the family received an invitation from “The Jennifer Hudson Show” to talk about their experience. For the first time, the conversation about self-driving technology in social media started to center around people. And after the film was launched, BlueCruise was the top-rated active driving assistance system by Consumer Reports. 

CULTURAL CONTEXT 

Almost 70% of American drivers are afraid of self-driving cars. Negative news reports, accidents involving other car manufacturers and the current social media climate have made the public extremely skeptical about self-driving technology. To break the cycle, we had to tell an authentic story unseen in the category that showed everyone how safe and empowering BlueCruise hands-free driving is.