General Motors sue Ford over ‘BlueCruise’ name for hands-free driving

General Motors and its Cruise robo-taxi subsidiary have submitted a lawsuit to stop Ford Motor from using the name “BlueCruise” for promoting its hands-free driving technology, the automaker said on Saturday.

In a statement, GM said Ford’s use of the BlueCruise name has violated GM’s Super Cruise trademark, and also Cruise’s trademark.

“While GM had hoped to resolve the trademark infringement matter with Ford amicably, we were left with no option but to vigorously defend our brands and protect the equity our products and technology have earned over several years in the market,” GM said in its statement.

In the lawsuit, submitted on Friday, GM said the automakers had held “protracted discussions” regarding the matter but failed to resolve it.

The automaker has asked the court for an order to prohibit Ford from using the BlueCruise name and unspecified damages.

Ford described the lawsuit as “meritless and frivolous”.

“Drivers for decades have understood what cruise control is, every automaker offers it, and ‘cruise’ is common shorthand for the capability,” Ford said.

“That’s why BlueCruise was chosen as the name for the Blue Oval’s next evolution of Ford’s Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control.”

The lawsuit has been filed in federal court in California.