NEW YORK: General Motors and Ford plan to settle a trademark lawsuit over the similarity of Ford’s “BlueCruise” system to the “Cruise” business owned by GM, according to a court filing.
US District Judge Susan Illston ordered the case “dismissed without prejudice” after the two parties told the court they were agreeing to a settlement.
GM had filed the suit in July after Ford launched BlueCruise, which allows motorists to drive hands-free, in April.
GM said the Ford moniker too closely resembled “Cruise”, its autonomous driving subsidiary, as well as “Super Cruise”, a system for hands-free driving on some GM autos.
Ford had argued that the term “cruise” is frequently employed in car systems and that the suit should be dismissed.
A Ford spokesman confirmed that the suit was being settled but declined additional comment.
But the Ford spokesman said BlueCruise would be used on upcoming models.