With the average US driver spending up to one and a half hours a week stuck in traffic, systems such as Ford’s adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go tech could help make those types of situations a lot less stressful.

The 2017 Ford Fusion is available with a new stop-and-go system which automatically accelerates and brakes the car while still maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle ahead.

Now, if 1.5 hours per week didn’t sound bad enough, then maybe 6.9 billion will – the time US drivers spent in traffic in 2014 according to the Urban Mobility Scorecard released by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

In order to make things even easier, the 2017 Fusion comes with dedicated steering wheel buttons for the adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go system, allowing drivers to choose their preferred cruising speed and following distance from the car ahead. This semi-autonomous tech can then automatically adjust the speed and even bring the car to a full stop when the traffic halts.

If the car is stationary for over three seconds, the driver can tap the resume button (or accelerator) and the Fusion will return to its preset speed and following distance. The tech itself uses an advanced radar-and-camera based system, reading the road every 50 milliseconds – making adjustments on the fly, according to traffic flow.

“When testing this system, we traveled to cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, heading straight for the worst possible congestion,” said Scott Lindstrom, Ford driver-assist technologies manager. “It was important for us to test this system under conditions the average driver encounters every workday.”

The 2017 Fusion is the first Ford model in North America to offer customers adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go as well as Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection. In fact, there are 20 driver-assist technologies available across the Fusion lineup, which includes the Hybrid and Energi versions.

Within the next two years, three new Ford models will be receiving this new stop-and-go tech.

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