As caught by Motor Authority, Jeep quietly introduced its Hands-Free Active Driving Assist (HFDA) technology two years after announcing it. Press releases from 2021 heralding the 2022 Grand Cherokee, Wagoneer, and Grand Wagoneer touted, “Hands-free Active Driving Assist (late availability) offers hands-off driving at all speeds and lane centering on approved roadways, for even greater driving convenience. The system will predictively slow the vehicle down in tight curves, automatically resume control after driver override and verify that the driver is paying attention to the road.” At the end of last year, members of the WL Jeep Forum were still creating threads asking if anyone had heard of HFDA appearing on production vehicles.
Note, HFDA is more advanced than the automaker’s Active Driving Assist, the latter essentially being hands-on adaptive cruise control and lane centering. HFDA only works on approved roads, can change lanes after the driver taps the turn signal, and works up to 90 miles per hour.
The Jeep configurator shows HFDA is only available on the 2024 Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L at the moment, on Overland, Summit, and Summit Reserve trims, the option costing $2,995 for a three-year free trial. As Motor Authority found out from a Stellantis spokesperson, the automaker isn’t ready to announced subscription pricing at the end of the trial. The Jeep site states, “There are over 125,000 miles of compatible roads that work with the available Hands-Free Active Driving Assist System.” A cache of map data from TomTom, a high-definition GPS receiver, and the SUV’s cameras and radar determine the suitable roads, an infrared camera on the steering column watches the driver’s eyes. When available, drivers press a button on the steering wheel to activate the system, gauge cluster and HUD graphics turning green to indicate HFDA is in operation.
Check out the Motor Authority piece for more details on the system. The 2025 Ram 1500 appears to be next Stellantis brand vehicle to get the system, Ram’s retail site touting the feature for the pickup and showing the driver’s eye monitor on the steering column. We expect the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer could add HFDA to their configurators before then.
