What is the point of BlueCruise?

[raijinmach]

With ACC and LKA, the only difference BlueCruise offers is that you can be completely handsfree. But even so, you're supposed to pay attention to the road and for your safety, you shouldn't be hands free for long anyways. ACC/LKA can also resume automatically on highways during standstill traffic. I guess with the new BC, it can automatically change lanes too but I'm not sure I would even use that feature. What am I missing?

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[mdwinther35]

The point is you CAN be hands free for long stretches. Yes you need to keep your eyes on the road and be ready to take control when needed, but overall it's less stressful on long trips (in my experience anyway).

 

[raijinmach]

The point is you CAN be hands free for long stretches. Yes you need to keep your eyes on the road and be ready to take control when needed, but overall it's less stressful on long trips (in my experience anyway).

I don't feel comfortable keeping my hands off for long stretches of time. There are times when BC turns off all of a sudden and I would want to make sure my hands are already on the steering wheel. Plus you literally just have to keep a finger on the steering wheel to keep ACC/LKA active

 

[AliRafiee]

What are your expectations?

 

[ChrisO]

The interesting thing about stress is it is related to a person’s belief.

Some people can be stress free with a Tesla driving around in FSD “mad max mode” exceeding the speed limit and weaving in and out of traffic and like it to be in a “sports car”. Others like my wife find using adaptive cruise control too stressful to use.

I personally fall into the category of lightly holding on to the wheel with one hand and only using BlueCruise on long trips and major highways like I5.

One note, I just took a trip to the LA area and used the automatic passing feature. It works pretty good, but I had to catch in some tricky situations. The more I think about it I wish there was a button or assistant command that could turn it off and on. It was nice when passing slow trucks, but I would have like being able to temporarily turn it off in some situations and digging through the menus while driving isn’t an option.

 

[raijinmach]

What are your expectations?

I guess does it offer any other advantage besides being handsfree? If not, can't imagine spending $50/mo on this

 

[ChrisO]

I guess does it offer any other advantage besides being handsfree? If not, can't imagine spending $50/mo on this

The only other advantages are lane automatic lane changes with the turn signal and the automatic lane changes for slower traffic.

On my 2024 I didn’t pay for it when the trial period ended, and for how I use it hardly noticed the difference.

 

[corradoborg]

The interesting thing about stress is it is related to a person’s belief.

This is true for mental stress. Physical (biomechanical) stress is different. No matter who you are, if you have to keep your hands on the wheel the whole time on a 12 hour drive, you will be a lot more tired at the end than someone who only has to have their hands on the wheel for a cumulative 2 of those hours because the car was in BlueCruise for the bulk of the trip. It's a simple matter of calorie burning and muscle fatigue.

I don't feel comfortable keeping my hands off for long stretches of time. There are times when BC turns off all of a sudden and I would want to make sure my hands are already on the steering wheel. Plus you literally just have to keep a finger on the steering wheel to keep ACC/LKA active

Biomechanically, keeping "just one finger" on the steering wheel requires a lot more effort than resting your arms on your armrests/in your lap. In fact, it even requires more effort than keeping both hands on the wheel, which allows you to use your grip on the wheel to support the weight of your arms by each balancing each the other.

As for being ready for road and traffic conditions, it is true that a split second can be the difference between a good day and a very bad day, and it does take a split second to return your hands to the wheel if they're not there already. But if the time it takes you to get your hands on the wheel and react is longer than the time you had to react, then you weren't properly paying close enough attention to conditions in the first place. In any situation that has the potential to go south that fast, you should've already taken control back and deactivated BlueCruise.

In the end, if you're uncomfortable with trusting the car for long periods of time while still paying attention and being ready to take control when needed, then BlueCruise just isn't for you - and that's totally fine. I find it very useful on my annual holiday trips to Portland from Santa Cruz, and any other long-ish drive I might take during the rest of the year.

I bought my Mach-E when they came with 3 years of BlueCruise, and I managed to snag the extra free year that some people were offered months (a year?) ago. So I use it whenever it suits, even on shorter trips. I agree that $50/month or $500/year is too high a price point for a continual subscription because I don't need it nearly as much as I use it now. But when my 4th year expires, if I still have the car, I will be happy to pay for one month at a time, only during months when I plan a long trip. Ford will at least be able to count on me every December.

 

[ChrisO]

This is true for mental stress. Physical (biomechanical) stress is different. No matter who you are, if you have to keep your hands on the wheel the whole time on a 12 hour drive, you will be a lot more tired at the end than someone who only has to have their hands on the wheel for a cumulative 2 of those hours because the car was in BlueCruise for the bulk of the trip. It's a simple matter of calorie burning and muscle fatigue.


Biomechanically, keeping "just one finger" on the steering wheel requires a lot more effort than resting your arms on your armrests/in your lap. In fact, it even requires more effort than keeping both hands on the wheel, which allows you to use your grip on the wheel to support the weight of your arms by each balancing each the other.

As for being ready for road and traffic conditions, it is true that a split second can be the difference between a good day and a very bad day, and it does take a split second to return your hands to the wheel if they're not there already. But if the time it takes you to get your hands on the wheel and react is longer than the time you had to react, then you weren't properly paying close enough attention to conditions in the first place. In any situation that has the potential to go south that fast, you should've already taken control back and deactivated BlueCruise.

In the end, if you're uncomfortable with trusting the car for long periods of time while still paying attention and being ready to take control when needed, then BlueCruise just isn't for you - and that's totally fine. I find it very useful on my annual holiday trips to Portland from Santa Cruz, and any other long-ish drive I might take during the rest of the year.

I bought my Mach-E when they came with 3 years of BlueCruise, and I managed to snag the extra free year that some people were offered months (a year?) ago. So I use it whenever it suits, even on shorter trips. I agree that $50/month or $500/year is too high a price point for a continual subscription because I don't need it nearly as much as I use it now. But when my 4th year expires, if I still have the car, I will be happy to pay for one month at a time, only during months when I plan a long trip. Ford will at least be able to count on me every December.

I definitely agree with that. I was able to find a comfortable position for me for one hand by having my elbow on the arm rest and my thumb and finger on the wheel at the same level. But as I think about it that might not be enough for non-BlueCruise to sense it. Right now I have an active BlueCruise subscription so I can’t tell.

It took me a bit to find a comfortable position, it is like with one pedal driving I rest my foot on the brake when stopped because having it positioned in front of the accelerator is uncomfortable and besides if I was hit from behind my foot might ram the accelerator.

 

[pikepilot]

Have the handsfreee BC, like it....mostly because I'm not a fan of the way hands on BC is setup in this car. Ford, in my opinion, is too quick to ask for hands on, and more importantly requires an actual input to the steering, even if your hand has never left the steering wheel. The force required to keep Hands ON active isn't necessary and borderline distracting. Hands OFF BC solves that issue.

 

[AliRafiee]

But as I think about it that might not be enough for non-BlueCruise to sense it.

The car looks for resistance against the wheel when in hands on mode. If the warning comes up, just tug a bit.

 

[SonicBlue]

With ACC and LKA, the only difference BlueCruise offers is that you can be completely handsfree. But even so, you're supposed to pay attention to the road and for your safety, you shouldn't be hands free for long anyways. ACC/LKA can also resume automatically on highways during standstill traffic. I guess with the new BC, it can automatically change lanes too but I'm not sure I would even use that feature. What am I missing?

It is more relaxing and comfortable to not have to put a hand on the wheel during long road trips. That’s basically it, other than assisted lane changes.

As you say, you have to keep your eyes on the road regardless, so only you can decide whether it’s worth the $600 a year or whether you’d want to trick the hand nanny with a $5 ankle weight instead.

 

[jmcbrew]

I guess does it offer any other advantage besides being handsfree? If not, can't imagine spending $50/mo on this

I guess the advantage for you is that you’re not at all tempted to spend $50/month for it. Some people would say the same about the glass roof — why pay more for the hot sun to shine in my eyes all the time? Well, you don’t have to.

As for BC, I personally don’t think it is worth $50/month. I have used it on long trips and find that, surprisingly, I do feel more relaxed after a long day on the road. I do not use on a daily basis. Mine expires at the end of this month, and I will not be renewing it. However, I do have enough rewards points for about 6 months of BC, so I might renew it for a month at a time when I go in long trips.

 

[celestial_knight]

It's the innovator's dilemma, where the product begins to compete with itself

 

[jgcom]

Not too long ago, cruise control required constant attention to avoid rear-ending someone or getting cut off, plus some effort to adjust the speed to match traffic. The cc in my '97 Saturn barely had enough bandwidth to deal with hills and drop-offs. Now most cc systems can stop and go, adjust to forward traffic speed, and work smoothly with other safety/assistance systems. I may be wrong, but I don't think its price changed much (inflation-adjusted) as the improvements were sold to new car buyers. (though nobody asked for subscription fees.)

I expect that blue cruise and its ilk will follow the same course. The continuing subscription fees are OK with me as long as the older cars see improvements, even if only to the mapped-road network. We will see. Getting the BC 1.3 upgrade after my car was a few years old was pretty cool, second only to the golden day when my frunk began opening by remote command.

Personally, BC is worth it to me, as my commute includes a good stretch on the mapped roads.

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