Ford BlueCruise OTA rollout delayed until Q1 2022

[Mirak]

They’re mocking us.

Yes. Not so good at customer service or communication, but very good at giving customers the middle digit. Maybe Ford is catching up to Tesla after all.

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[Timelessblur]

Hey there! We appreciate your patience with the delay. However, we're glad you're still enjoying your vehicle. Soon you'll have lots of practice with tic tac toe.
Take care!

In all honestly that is kind of a F you from ford motor company. How about some real information on why there is a delay?
What about getting the damn thing out close to when it was promised. You already are late and now I think every losing hope of Ford motor company even getting it out by the end of Q1 2022 which would put it over 6 months late......

Ford motor company needs to remember that most Mach E buyers are from other brands. At this rate the Mach E might be the only Ford and the LAST ford I ever buy unless things change. Love the car but the promise support has been lacking and now there is no trust.

 

[Chudsaviet]

very good at giving customers the middle digit.

Agree, remember the instrument screen buzz SSM, "its normal".

 

[Chudsaviet]

From what I have heard in speaking with people are various Ford service departments, Ford discovered an issue with OTA updates where it was not accounting for people who had their Mach-E software or modules updated at the dealership.

It resulted in OTAs basically overwriting and reverting software and modules with older software versions.

That's a big fail of the software architect. Come on, what's a problem in checking every module's version on update?
You either update the system only as a whole, or update every module individually, but dealing with issues with different module versions. Look like they have tried to do something in between, which describes the circus with OTA version numbers and "partial" updates.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I’m definitely willing to cut Ford as much slack as possible. I’ve worked for very large, established companies and I know, first hand, how difficult it is to make change happen. I actually recognize the amount of change that must have occurred, and must still be occurring throughout ford to bring the Mustang Mach E and it’s supporting technologies to life. Sandy Munro (as much as I’m not a fan) showed us examples where change still needs to happen in the design. I’m going to stick with ford on the journey, even though I may whine and complain a lot, because I still buy into their vision. Anyone remember what Bill Ford did when there was the horrible fire at the Rouge Plant? Anyone remember what Elon Musk did at the Fremont plant when California was under lockdown because of a nationwide pandemic that was peaking and killing thousands of Americans a day? My values are more aligned with Bill Ford ?

I rather agree.

I worked for an airline that had and has a reputation of being an innovator, quick to adapt and customer focused. It was by far the most entrenched, bureaucratic, and backwards organization I’ve ever worked for. It simply had a great advertising budget. I’d rather have a company that is concerned about innovation, market changes, and the ability to quickly adapt rather than one with the clever ads. Ford owned up to the delay. That’s good. Let’s hope there’s a commitment to resolve the OTA issue, whatever that issue might be, before terribly long.

Current Mach-e owners have cause to be disappointed and concerned about the delay. That concern though should be focused on the reason for the delay, the OTA process, and not so much on what was delayed, BlueCruise. The multi-million dollar question is whether the vast majority of owners will grant them the time.

 

[newtruckinfl]

Some have mentioned the possibility of an old school thumb drive download or dealership based download, but based upon what has transpired thus far it is hard to imagine that Ford would be motivated to provide any type of early remedy for the small but vocal minority that are genuinely upset about not having this software in the third fourth quarter of 2021. I think the perception is that the masses don't care, or have the "I bought the car to drive it" mentality and are fine waiting.

 

[Dmcerm]

I didn't read the whole thread, so I am sure someone beat me to this but...
Isn't this the time Ford should now charge 10k for us acquire BlueCruise, some time in the future?

 

[Jimrpa]

I rather agree.

I worked for an airline that had and has a reputation of being an innovator, quick to adapt and customer focused. It was by far the most entrenched, bureaucratic, and backwards organization I’ve ever worked for. It simply had a great advertising budget. I’d rather have a company that is concerned about innovation, market changes, and the ability to quickly adapt rather than one e we tug the clever ads. Ford owned up to the delay. That’s good. Let’s hope there’s a commitment to resolve the OTA issue, whatever that issue might be, before terribly long.

Current Mach-e owners have every cause yo be disappointed and concerned about the delay. That concern though should be focused on the reason for the delay, the OTA process, and not so much on what was delayed, BlueCruise. The multi-million dollar question is whether the vast majority of owners will grant them the time.

I agree. I’ve seen a lot of discussion around the root cause of the delay being continuing issues with the OTA process and we’ve certainly seen first hand that the OTA process seems to be a bit immature. I’m not sure though that Ford has expressly stated that OTA is the root cause for the continuing delays in feature rollouts (I’ll defer to the wiser folks on the board to correct me if I’m wrong ?)
By the way, I am/was very frequent self-loading cargo on a US-carrier that always prided itself on customer focus and technology. They ran hot and cold. There was a period where they were busily stripping away benefits from their frequent flyer program and touting the changes as “enhancements” because customers “demanded them” ??? Other times, they did do some good customer-focused changes. Currently though, they’re the only major carrier that’s still only serving cold boxed lunches in first class “for customer safety” ??? They also have a very active thread on a popular forum where people log the innumerable issues with both their app and website (and we won’t even go into the new phone system they’re rolling out ?)
Anyway, I’ve stuck with them for a long time, so I’m willing to give Ford some leeway in their growing pains on the remote customer service front. I don’t expect Ford to become Apple overnight ?

 

[Chuck]

The only failure I see here is the setting of expectations. Had Ford said Q1 22 in the first place no one here would be complaining, instead they'd be anticipating. As a software developer myself I've learned over the years to under promise and over deliver. Always build in a buffer and if the buffer isn't used then it looks like we were way ahead of schedule. If the buffer is used then we're on time.

It's possible that Ford did this and it went way beyond the buffer. But you can bet that they've learned from this and will create larger buffers in the future.

 

[macchiaz-o]

I’m not sure though that Ford has expressly stated that OTA is the root cause for the continuing delays in feature rollouts

 

[newtruckinfl]

Yes, this makes the situation most frustrating, we are not waiting for an improvement to BC, like a Tesla software update, we are simply waiting to get the same exact software currently installed in new builds. It is a delivery problem.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Yes, this makes the situation most frustrating, we are not waiting for an improvement to BC, like a Tesla software update, we are simply waiting to get the same exact software currently installed in new builds. It is a delivery problem.

BC is out, being used, and sending information back to Dearborn. There a high degree of probability test the team in charge of BlueCruise is tweaking and improving on its current state as we debate. It’s possible it’ll change before the BC OTA jams the airways.

 

[newtruckinfl]

BC is out, being used, and sending information back to Dearborn. There a high degree of probability test the team in charge of BlueCruise is tweaking and improving on its current state as we debate. It’s possible it’ll change before the BC OTA jams the airways.

I have not heard anyone from Ford suggest any type of improvement of the system prior to the eventual OTA roll out. While hopeful there will be continued BC updates in the future, the delay appears solely their inability to "simply" send out the software to hardware equipped vehicles. If it is just a matter of installing an established and proven software update to our vehicles, why can't the manufacturer develop a workaround (thumb drive or service visit) until the OTA delivery process is figured out?

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I have not heard anyone from Ford suggest any type of improvement of the system prior to the eventual OTA roll out. While hopeful there will be continued BC updates in the future, the delay appears solely their inability to "simply" send out the software to hardware equipped vehicles. If it is just a matter of installing an established and proven software update to our vehicles, why can't the manufacturer develop a workaround (thumb drive or service visit) until the OTA delivery process is figured out?

I believe you’re presuming too much. The tweet copied above (https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...llout-delayed-until-q1-2022.10830/post-272155), indicates an issue with the OTA process. There’s no reason to think BC is a static program either. Will an updated program be vetted sufficiently enough to send that out instead of the current live BC program? I have no clue.

OTAs are continuing to roll out daily. Is it slow? Yeah, maple sap in New Hampshire winter slow. But it is rolling out. Something is of concern to Ford in the process imo.

I’ve been known to be wrong though.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

OTAs are continuing to roll out daily. Is it slow? Yeah, maple sap in New Hampshire winter slow. But it is rolling out. Something is of concern to Ford in the process imo.

vs. molasses in January which is quite a different discussion ?

Great Molasses Flood - Wikipedia

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