Is there a way to test/practice BlueCruise?

[minjaep]

I enjoyed watching people using Blue Cruise on Youtube and was thrilled about it. But it turns out that I'm a faint heart when I sit in the car as a driver. I tried to turn it on a highway, and it was fine when driving 70+mph maintaining the lane and the distance. But it was always interrupted manually with my pushing of the brake pedal. I thought it decelerates/stops a little late than what I usually do, and I couldn't wait a few more seconds to see if the Cruise is doing okay.

Is there a safer way to test or practice it to give me some confidence to rely on it?

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[hybrid2bev]

I enjoyed watching people using Blue Cruise on Youtube and was thrilled about it. But it turns out that I'm a faint heart when I sit in the car as a driver. I tried to turn it on a highway, and it was fine when driving 70+mph maintaining the lane and the distance. But it was always interrupted manually with my pushing of the brake pedal. I thought it decelerates/stops a little late than what I usually do, and I couldn't wait a few more seconds to see if the Cruise is doing okay.

Is there a safer way to test or practice it to give me some confidence to rely on it?

Increase the number of bars for the following distance. I normally cruise with 1 bar. Maybe bump yours up to 3 or 4 to start. You can adjust on the fly until you find the number of bars that works for you.

 

[minjaep]

Increase the number of bars for the following distance. I normally cruise with 1 bar. Maybe bump yours up to 3 or 4 to start. You can adjust on the fly until you find the number of bars that works for you.

Wow, 1 bar. One scenario I'm worried about in particular is when I started to see a string of cars with brake lights way ahead, where traffic starts. I always put my foot on the brake pedal and gently decelerate. Is Cruise aware of this situation and getting ready to stop?

 

[RickMachE]

Yes. Have you watched the videos to see how it works? https://www.ford.com/technology/driver-assist-technology/adaptive-cruise-control/

And, that's not BlueCruise, that's simply Adaptive Cruise. BlueCruise is hands free driving.

But if they are stopped way ahead, and no one near you, you're going to decelerate rapidly when you get close. That's a good case for using the brake pedal, or using the steering wheel control to slow your cruising speed.

 

[TRP]

It will decelerate when it sees the car directly in front of you decelerate. Increase the number of bars and that distance will be greater. I prefer 1 bar but you may be more comfortable with more

 

[minjaep]

And, that's not BlueCruise, that's simply Adaptive Cruise. BlueCruise is hands free driving.

But if they are stopped way ahead, and no one near you, you're going to decelerate rapidly when you get close. That's a good case for using the brake pedal, or using the steering wheel control to slow your cruising speed.

That is why I just said Cruise, instead of BlueCruise, and the latter is more advanced to me, apparently lol.

It will decelerate when it sees the car directly in front of you decelerate. Increase the number of bars and that distance will be greater. I prefer 1 bar but you may be more comfortable with more

Okay. By the way, if I increase the bar to 4, say, does it mean it will stop way ahead of the car in front (if it stops) or just decelerate earlier and stop close to the front? I think stopping early is not safe either because of the car behind. But I guess it should be something reasonable.

 

[RickMachE]

Watch the video.

 

[TRP]

Okay. By the way, if I increase the bar to 4, say, does it mean it will stop way ahead of the car in front (if it stops) or just decelerate earlier and stop close to the front? I think stopping early is not safe either because of the car behind. But I guess it should be something reasonable.
[/QUOTE]

It will increase the distance between you and the other car while moving. I use 1 bar because with a wider gap between me and the other car, people tend to cut in front of me causing my car to slow to increase that gap, allowing someone else to cut in.........you get the point.

You need to watch a few videos and then go drive and try to trust the equipment. It will work, you just need to find the setting you like.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

Wow, 1 bar. One scenario I'm worried about in particular is when I started to see a string of cars with brake lights way ahead, where traffic starts. I always put my foot on the brake pedal and gently decelerate. Is Cruise aware of this situation and getting ready to stop?

The problem here is that if you don't see the little "half car" at the top of the instrument cluster above the icon for your car, that means the Mach-E doesn't see a car ahead of it--yet. If you're driving in traffic, it slows a little later than I would, but it's generally fine. If you're coming up fast and are a distance away from cars stopped at a light, for instance, it will eventually see those cars and start braking, but it does it way too short for my liking as well. This was the same in my Acura RDX; it's something about the distance when the radar sees a car at a distance when you're not already cruising behind one.

The key is to look for that little half car at the top. If you see it, it does too. If you don't, I'd hover your foot over the brake pedal and be ready to take over (or just push the cancel switch on the left side of the steering wheel and let 1PD or regeneration start slowing you down, and then you can press the button again to resume if the cars ahead start to move.

 

[minjaep]

The key is to look for that little half car at the top. If you see it, it does too. If you don't, I'd hover your foot over the brake pedal and be ready to take over (or just push the cancel switch on the left side of the steering wheel and let 1PD or regeneration start slowing you down, and then you can press the button again to resume if the cars ahead start to move.

Thanks for the tip! Actually that is another thing I'm not sure -- how to take over correctly. I think I never learned this from videos as people don't show their footwork exactly (or maybe it's hard to show from cameras). I didn't practice 1PD yet to use it, but I assume if you don't push the gas pedal at all, it will be like pushing the brake pedal hard. Does it mean, that as soon as I cancel the cruise, it will decelerate very quickly?

To avoid situation, should I press the gas pedal a little bit to match the current speed? But isn't it canceling the cruise as soon as I do so? If the speed was high, it means the cruise is cancelled and my pedal was very slightly pressed, so it will also decelerate quickly?

This kind of non-transparency makes it very difficult to trust this system for me. Hope there is some video or guide on how footwork should be in relation to 1PD/Cruise in each scenario, for noobs like me.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

With 1PD, taking your foot off the accelerator is like moderately putting your foot on the brake. The idea though is that you don’t take it off completely, but you ease up allowing the braking to come in smoother. The brakes still work in 1PD—by all means use them if you’re not stopping quickly enough—but it took me just about 10 minutes of driving 1PD to get an idea of how long it takes to stop depending how fast I’m going, and now I barely touch the actual brake pedal.

If I press the cancel button in cruise, I do one of two things:

- Just let 1PD take me to a stop, because I know when to release cruise to come to a stop at the length I need, OR
- Before I push the button, I press on the accelerator to match the current speed (this does not cancel cruise, pressing the brake does), push the cancel button, and then ease my foot off the accelerator to slow at the rate I want to.

After getting used to 1PD, I hate going back to my wife’s car that doesn’t have it. It’s much more intuitive to me than gas/brake/gas/brake. It’s more like a smooth continuum of power from zero to max.

 

[RickMachE]

Non-transparency?

It has been suggested by myself and others that you watch the videos where Ford is transparently showing how it works...

?

If you log into Ford.com, you'll see multiple videos about your vehicle. Have you watched any of them?

 

[minjaep]

Non-transparency?

It has been suggested by myself and others that you watch the videos where Ford is transparently showing how it works...

?

If you log into Ford.com, you'll see multiple videos about your vehicle. Have you watched any of them?

Yes, I watched every single video and it never shows how to use it in a real-life setting. If I missed anything, can you refer to any video? For example, does it answer: assuming I'm at a high speed and if a car is completely stopped far away out of radar's range when it starts to decelerate and does so in a comfortable way? And if I have to intervene, what is the best way? I'd appreciate if you can give me a video explaining such thing in the Ford website. All I can find is how to set something on/off which does not make sense at all to me in a real situation. For example, by bar 4, what is the distance it is referring to? Those are the questions I asked above and answered kindly by other people.

I don't know why you assume I didn't try to find any resource to figure out such thing for each scenario I can think of for my safety before asking here, and why you are so sarcastic. There are people who are not brave enough to try something before understanding how it works completely.

 

[RickMachE]

Adaptive Cruise Control engages and disengages just like cruise control always has. Want to go faster? Step on the accelerator. Come off it, it goes back to the set speed. Want to disengage? Tap the brake pedal. Or hit the switch on the steering wheel. Practice using it.

If using cruise control is not comfortable for you, simply don't use it.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

The bars in Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) systems are not indicative of an exact distance maintained between the lead vehicle and the following vehicle. This is because there are too many variables that cannot be predicted. The biggest one being the speed of the vehicle in front of yours. If you're moving at 60 mph, the 4-bar setting will keep you at a predetermined distance, but it will increase that distance at higher speeds and may decrease that distance at lower speeds. It will not, however, maintain a perfect distance. As the lead vehicle increases or decreases speeds, the following vehicle with ACC will get closer or fall farther behind depending on the new relative speed.

It's slightly better to think of those bars in the ACC settings as time rather than distance. The range is several seconds for most ACC systems in the US. But it's still variable because it's a reactive system, not a predictive system.

Most ACC systems have trouble detecting stopped vehicles (or non-moving anything) when you are traveling at high speeds (highway). In most cases where the ACC has low speed and stopping capabilities, a different algorithm takes over at lower speeds.

You should never expect a vehicle to stop for you in the situation when there's a stationary object ahead of you and you are moving at high speed. In a situation where you have any kind of cruise control on and you see a stationary object or much slower vehicle ahead of you, you should take control of the vehicle as you normally would, using your judgement to slow the vehicle safely. Do not rely on the assisting technology.

How best to take full control will depend on your particular situation. When I have plenty of time, I simply turn off CC using the steering wheel controls. If I don't have time, I simply step on the brake. Both are valid ways of turning off the assistive technologies. The key is to maintain control so you don't end up in a panic situation.

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