BlueCruise v1 is a Let Down

[TheVirtualTim]

Mine was installed OTA back in March and it's been really good. I've learned to anticipate when it's probably going to ask me to take the wheel.

There's a big interchange on the Southfield Fwy (M39) & I-96. Even though I'm going straight-through (not taking a ramp) it will ask me to grab the wheel if I'm traveling through on M39. I suspect this is due to a gap in mapping. It always asks me to grab the wheel at that spot.

On curves ... whether or not it asks me to grab the wheel depends on the speed of the car. There's a stretch on I75 where it will normally ask me to grab the wheel IF I'm traveling at regular freeway speeds. But when it's congested and slow-moving traffic ... it handles that very same curve on its own. It seems to be a combination of the radius of the curve *and* vehicle speed.

My car only occasionally does the ping-pong and it usually doesn't last long.

I've had a few areas where (and this is probably a Michigan problem) the potholes were SOOOO bad that the entire stretch of road where the line was supposed to be painted was nothing but a row of pot-holes. I realized I could hardly blame the car for not knowing that a mile long row of patched pot-holes is equivalent to a painted line in my state. <sigh>

I've noticed that if the rain us coming down hard enough to create reflections on the road ... making it difficult to see the lines ... it will disengage. I mostly does work in the rain ... just a few times that it disengaged for a stretch of road.

I've also encountered areas where the painted lines were *really* worn -- marked, but just barely marked ... and was surprised that the car was happy with it.

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[MME Farmer]

My blue cruise works great! I'm sure I drive hands-free 90% of the time and I'm not on BC roads. One thing I've noticed is on certain roads it considers taking a turn lane especially left turn lanes. Getting a little concerned that I'm trusting it too much since it has been working so good. If it decides to take a turn lane at say 65 that'll get your attention.

 

[BruhMan E]

I had BC installed and it does seem like a glorified lane assist, but as it is software, they will tune and enhance as time goes on and as they collect and analyze data from us. I have a standard model with the tech package.

My upgrade took an entire week. Strangely enough, the main issue was that the upgrade would not take via the USB data ports in the console. To the surprise of my dealership when they called Ford, there is a data port inside the driver side door...yes I said inside the door. It is an ethernet cable. If you are like me you are saying "what in the world?". The dealership was baffled. I could think of a few other places for an auxiliary port, but certainly not behind the door panel. After a couple weeks problem free, now I am getting a door error code. I am sure it's the door they messed with. I have to take it back in. Has anyone had this issue?

I enjoy the BC and yes it turns off around fast curves, on badly lined roads and other conspicuous areas, and it does ping pong slightly. I am sure they will work that out. Cant wait for the other upgrades.

 

[HDer]

https://fordauthority.com/2022/07/f...ustomers-will-pay-big-bucks-to-sleep-in-cars/

Ford CEO is talking about tens of thousands of dollars of revenue per car from BlueCruise. Hopefully that means that we will see many more features added to the current version as time goes on.

 

[RickMachE]

https://fordauthority.com/2022/07/f...ustomers-will-pay-big-bucks-to-sleep-in-cars/

Ford CEO is talking about tens of thousands of dollars of revenue per car from BlueCruise. Hopefully that means that we will see many more features added to the current version as time goes on.

That's not what he says.

He says it will be WORTH that, in saved time, for the consumer, because they cut time out of their day.

“When I was at Toyota and I sold my Prius, that HOV sticker was worth $5,000,” Jim Farley said while speaking at the recent Bernstein Conference. “That only saved me five minutes a day on my commute. If we can get people to fall asleep in our car, give them 45 minutes back on their commute, they can go to work 45 minutes later, they can go home 45 minutes earlier, it won’t be $500. It’ll be tens of thousands of dollars.”

 

[HDer]

That's not what he says.

He says it will be WORTH that, in saved time, for the consumer, because they cut time out of their day.

“When I was at Toyota and I sold my Prius, that HOV sticker was worth $5,000,” Jim Farley said while speaking at the recent Bernstein Conference. “That only saved me five minutes a day on my commute. If we can get people to fall asleep in our car, give them 45 minutes back on their commute, they can go to work 45 minutes later, they can go home 45 minutes earlier, it won’t be $500. It’ll be tens of thousands of dollars.”

1. He says he sold his Prius for $5K extra for the HOV sticker.
2. It's been previously reported that he thinks BlueCruise will bring in $20 billion dollars a year by 2030: https://carbuzz.com/news/ford-thinks-self-driving-tech-will-generate-tens-of-billions-of-dollars (actually, taking another look, it looks like both quotes are coming from the same conference)

I think you're hung up on the semantics. He's planning on charging what the feature is "worth."

 

[RickMachE]

1. He says he sold his Prius for $5K extra for the HOV sticker.
2. It's been previously reported that he thinks BlueCruise will bring in $20 billion dollars a year by 2030: https://carbuzz.com/news/ford-thinks-self-driving-tech-will-generate-tens-of-billions-of-dollars (actually, taking another look, it looks like both quotes are coming from the same conference)

I think you're hung up on the semantics. He's planning on charging what the feature is "worth."

I don't think it's semantics. Tens of thousands would be impossible to get from a feature even over the lifetime of the car.

Yes, he sold the Prius for $5k more. Not the same as revenue from a customer over the life of a car.

BlueCruise by itself is now $600 for 3 years. He's looking at 2030, which is 8 years away.

By 2030, let's assume it costs $300 a year (5% annual increase in cost). Ford sells 4 million vehicles a year. If one assumes that 8 years of vehicles are being used:

4 million x 8 = 32 million vehicles x 300 = $9.6 billion a year in revenue. So he's a bit over twice that. Perhaps he's increasing price, or selling more vehicles per year, or adding features and increasing price, ...

I'm sure they have things behind the numbers, because he can't say stuff like that without having the backup, or the market would kill him.

 

[Mathington]

I have had the opposite experience as OP and found it to be fantastic.

I took a small road trip two weeks ago and drive for 30+minutes without a single disengagement. It wasn't ping-ponging in the lanes either. This was on a busy highway with subtle bends and curves as well. Any agressive bends in the highway would disengage back to hands-on BC but still kept the car in the lane and driving without any issues.

 

[HDer]

I don't think it's semantics. Tens of thousands would be impossible to get from a feature even over the lifetime of the car.

Yes, he sold the Prius for $5k more. Not the same as revenue from a customer over the life of a car.

BlueCruise by itself is now $600 for 3 years. He's looking at 2030, which is 8 years away.

By 2030, let's assume it costs $300 a year (5% annual increase in cost). Ford sells 4 million vehicles a year. If one assumes that 8 years of vehicles are being used:

4 million x 8 = 32 million vehicles x 300 = $9.6 billion a year in revenue. So he's a bit over twice that. Perhaps he's increasing price, or selling more vehicles per year, or adding features and increasing price, ...

I'm sure they have things behind the numbers, because he can't say stuff like that without having the backup, or the market would kill him.

Your math is correct. 20 billion dollars a year would be 100 million car subscriptions if they only charged $200/year. Since Ford only produces 6-7 million cars a year, that's probably larger than the number of all of the Ford cars currently on the road, worldwide. And only a very small fraction of those cars are BlueCruise compatible.

So my guess is that they're going to steeply increase the price. And I don't actually mind as long as they get to full self driving or somewhere close. I'd happily pay $2000 a year if my Mach-E drives itself and lets me take a nap.

 

[newmme]

Ford CEO is talking about tens of thousands of dollars of revenue per car from BlueCruise. Hopefully that means that we will see many more features added to the current version as time goes on.

I hope you are right.

Not sure he has a good track record after the 2021 OTA promise of lots of new features.

 

[PA Bob]

I hope BlueCruise doesn't just take longer to break, I hope it never breaks. When the white line breaks, that's good - as long as it doesn't brake. The car should brake, not break.

Mrs. Ogg, my eight grade English teacher, is rolling over in her grave. Ford is probably saying, "Great. Someone defends BC, but he can't spell!"

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