BlueCruise 1.2 Update Includes Hands-Free Lane Changing

[RickMachE]

Lane changing has been stated as a future enhancement for BlueCruise since 2021 at least. There was never a mention that it wouldn't be in older vehicles that have BlueCruise. If people want to waste brain cells debating that, go ahead.

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[mikeinet]

Notice the absence of when it's coming to existing vehicles. That is NOT unintentional.

Why would you think that? There shouldn’t be any tech differences… that we know of….
Unless they’re using a different processor or chipset that can handle more complicated things…

 

[RickMachE]

Why would you think that? There shouldn’t be any tech differences… that we know of….
Unless they’re using a different processor or chipset that can handle more complicated things…

WHEN. Not if, WHEN. They don't want to miss another date.

 

[Vulnox]

Lane changing has been stated as a future enhancement for BlueCruise since 2021 at least. There was never a mention that it wouldn't be in older vehicles that have BlueCruise. If people want to waste brain cells debating that, go ahead.

It doesn't have to be a debate if you don't make claims that aren't backed by the available evidence. The available evidence, including Ford's most recent words, is it is available on 2023 MY vehicles with zero mention of earlier vehicles.

What Ford said two years ago is irrelevant, in the same way they promised BC would launch by EoY 2021 for the F-150 and other such vehicles, but it didn't arrive until mid-2022 for most because of unforseen complications. There is nothing to say that unforseen complications with lane change, including hardware revisions needed, didn't require it to be 2023 and newer only. The point is we don't know, and you haven't shown any recent statements that would make it seem that 2021/2022 vehicles will get it. You can be dismissive if you want, but you made the claim earlier vehicles would get it.

 

[mikeinet]

Let’s think positively…. Maybe they’re just tired of missing dates, so figure it’s safer to say it’s going to ship with ‘23 models out of the gate and then whenever they get to OTA the rest they will… but won’t commit to when

 

[RickMachE]

It doesn't have to be a debate if you don't make claims that aren't backed by the available evidence. The available evidence, including Ford's most recent words, is it is available on 2023 MY vehicles with zero mention of earlier vehicles.

What Ford said two years ago is irrelevant, in the same way they promised BC would launch by EoY 2021 for the F-150 and other such vehicles, but it didn't arrive until mid-2022 for most because of unforseen complications. There is nothing to say that unforseen complications with lane change, including hardware revisions needed, didn't require it to be 2023 and newer only. The point is we don't know, and you haven't shown any recent statements that would make it seem that 2021/2022 vehicles will get it. You can be dismissive if you want, but you made the claim earlier vehicles would get it.

It was stated, in a conversation, with Darren Palmer, at the F-150L launch in February.

 

[RickMachE]

Let’s think positively…. Maybe they’re just tired of missing dates, so figure it’s safer to say it’s going to ship with ‘23 models out of the gate and then whenever they get to OTA the rest they will… but won’t commit to when

Exactly correct.

 

[Vulnox]

It was stated, in a conversation, with Darren Palmer, at the F-150L launch in February.

I hope that is the case then. I certainly want it to be. I guess we will see. Ford didn't have to commit to dates, they just had to say it was coming, which is the part I still struggle with. I don't think it makes sense to say they are gun shy because they missed dates in the past, when we aren't saying give us dates, just tell us earlier MMEs or F-150s (non-Lightning) will get it. That's the big discrepancy.

 

[notaek]

Welp!

 

[Blue highway]

**Press Release**

Ford Motor Company continues making hands-free driving even better by launching BlueCruise 1.2* and Lincoln ActiveGlide 1.2 with new features – including hands-free lane changing – and system updates to create more of a human-like driving feel.

The available new system starts arriving on vehicles from the factory this fall – beginning with the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

“We are investing in our ADAS team to constantly improve BlueCruise and ActiveGlide for our customers,” said Doug Field, Chief EV & Digital Systems Officer, Ford Model e. “The latest improvements allow customers to command lane changes using just a turn signal, and make hands-free driving feel more human-like by smoothly slowing down for turns, and giving more room to large vehicles in neighboring lanes. These improvements are just the beginning of a constant journey toward improving safety and giving customers valuable time back.”

Available BlueCruise 1.2 and ActiveGlide 1.2 include three new features:

• Lane Change Assist can help drivers move through traffic on the freeway with more confidence while using BlueCruise. The system will perform a hands-free lane change when requested by the driver tapping the turn signal, and it can even suggest if a lane change would be beneficial when following slow-moving traffic.
• Predictive Speed Assist automatically and smoothly adjusts the speed as drivers approach a sharp curve and will help signal the driver ahead of time when a speed change is about to occur, so they understand why the vehicle is slowing.
• In-Lane Repositioning makes the hands-free highway driving experience feel more natural, keeping the vehicle in its lane while subtly shifting the vehicle’s position away from vehicles in adjacent lanes – especially helpful when next to bigger vehicles such as semis.

Ford engineers also are dedicated to improving its ADAS to deliver more human-like driving performance, in addition to refining visuals, sensing and steering experiences. They’ve also been continually improving maps with over-the-air updates identifying prequalified sections of divided highways where BlueCruise can be used – currently spanning more than 130,000 miles.

Once a pre-qualified road is identified, BlueCruise-equipped vehicles sense and help confirm lane lines are visible, the driver has his or her eyes on the road and other conditions appropriate before transitioning to hands-free driving. BlueCruise uses animated cluster transitions featuring text and blue lighting cues to communicate that the feature is in hands-free mode, effective even for those with color blindness.

Collectively, 75,000 Ford and Lincoln owners enrolled in BlueCruise and ActiveGlide, with more than 16 million hands-free driving miles accumulated through the end of August.

These are great features. But Wait... why doesn't this say anything about updating BC in existing cars???? .... you know, the 75K of them it does mention?

 

[RickMachE]

Welp!

Yeah, he blew it because the word "eventually" was in the question. He should have said, "Yes, eventually".

 

[Mach-E VLOG]

Someone with a Twitter account should ask Mike Levine about that.

I've done that and messaged a couple of media people I know at Ford. I'll post it here if any of them confirm anything.

 

[Vulnox]

Welp!

That is almost a troll level response. "Not Yet" can be taken very positively, but then just saying they will discuss future OTA updates, not that specific update, in the future is like, well wait...

For now will take it on the positive side and assume they just don't want to commit to the OTA timeline. I will be refreshing the internal OTA update document though for it to show up...

 

[bshaw]

RIP 2021 and 2022 models...

The question is if BlueCruise 1.2 is software, hardware or both.

Since they are tagging it with a version number as "BlueCruise 1.2", there is likely a hardware spec change that only the newer models have.

Unlike with other feature updates, the incentive should be there to bring the latest BlueCruise to older vehicles. I would be *much* more likely to renew my subscription next spring if it was for the v1.2 features described above.

It would be great if Ford standardized on something like major version numbers. Like if your car shipped with the original BlueCruise capability, then tell us we'll be able to receive all v1.x updates. When it goes to v2.0, those features will require newer hardware.

 

[Blue highway]

Why would you think that? There shouldn’t be any tech differences… that we know of….
Unless they’re using a different processor or chipset that can handle more complicated things…

I would think that because I have written and approved these kinds of releases. A lot of thought goes into what they say and what they don't. It would be a marketing plus to say that the cars you buy from us are evergreen to the extent possible. Easy win. yet, it doesn't say that. And... I am suspicious that they need some hardware tweaks to pull this off.

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