PSA - Adaptive Cruise

[HuntingPudel]

This morning on the way to work an F150 cut me off. I was using Adaptive Cruise Control to maintain spacing and expected the car to slow down in order to maintain spacing. I had a fun surprise when the car throttled up and I had to hit the brakes in order to prevent rear-ending the F150. Once the Cruise was re-enabled, it behaved itself. Please be aware when using Cruise Control or BC. Thanks all! ??

Sponsored

 

[geftsnowball]

Quirks are always good to be aware of and pay attention to. Probably a good indicator that the warning to maintain attention when using features like ACC, lane centering, hands-free, etc. is a valid one (and overriding safety features like a weight on the wheel to remove hands-on requirement are a bad idea).

I haven't had that happen but I have occasionally noticed that suddenly the lane centering (blue cruise with hands on) will seem to decide that the lane is no longer the lane and want to go strong right or left into the shoulder or the oncoming lane. Disabling and then reenabling always seems to resolve the issue but it's definitely unsettling to have the car decide to merge into oncoming traffic or the shoulder rather than just hug the right.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Heh, the funny thing was that the car didn't just accelerate a little bit like it normally would if trailing really far back. It really throttled up. My dog looked at me like I was trying to mess with him. ??

 

[MyLittlePony2022]

I am still skeptical about Blue Cruise. I have played with it a bit in traffic. I DO NOT take my hands off the wheel, since I do not like the lane centering. It always pulls to the right so I am always fighting it a bit to keep it centered.

I was using it the other day on the freeway and traffic ahead of me came to a stop. I had enough time to hit the brakes and start slowing down to avoid that sudden stop that causes rear end accidents. I never trust the people behind me who tend to be watching YouTube, playing games or uploading on Tik Tok while flying down the road at 80 mph. However, the car did not start to slow down as I was approaching the cars. I had to do it. Technology is great but at this point humans are still needed in the equation. We are far better at analyzing complex situations.

 

[Mirak]

That’s a weird one. And a good reminder of why these things are aids but never a substitute for attentive driving.

My experiences tend to go in the opposite direction: the MobileEye system isn’t all that robust. It doesn’t work great at night, or in the rain, or when the sun is low in the sky to cast significant shadows. It’s just a camera trying to read lines on the road. I mean, it’s amazing what it can do, but also more limited than many people realize.

 

[dtbaker61]

This morning on the way to work an F150 cut me off. I was using Adaptive Cruise Control to maintain spacing and expected the car to slow down in order to maintain spacing. I had a fun surprise when the car throttled up and I had to hit the brakes in order to prevent rear-ending the F150. Once the Cruise was re-enabled, it behaved itself. Please be aware when using Cruise Control or BC. Thanks all! ??

hhhhmmmmm, adaptive cruise control is the only 'assist' feature I use occasionally. I've never had it speed up when cut off, but I have had it slow down fast enough to freak out the driver behind me. The gap it wants to leave is safe, but too big for normal 'busy highway' spacing. more than 2 or 3 car lengths seems to invite lane changers to jump in.... even at 80mph. I wish the gap was settable in feet rather than adaptive by speed

I will say that adaptive cruise does a surprisingly good job maintaining a distance up and down mountain roads, even when twisty. I almost always catch up to someone that wants to go slower than I would, so I flip on cruise control and let adaptive cruise maintain a gap so I don't have to diddle with accelerator and drive too close.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Yeah I had it start accelerating into a stopped car twice. Sometimes the radar gets confused with secondary reflections.

The front lane radars are supposed to detect cut-ins and brake, but who knows if that software works.

 

[veronicablack]

This morning on the way to work an F150 cut me off. I was using Adaptive Cruise Control to maintain spacing and expected the car to slow down in order to maintain spacing. I had a fun surprise when the car throttled up and I had to hit the brakes in order to prevent rear-ending the F150. Once the Cruise was re-enabled, it behaved itself. Please be aware when using Cruise Control or BC. Thanks all! ??

I had something similar-ish happen using parking assist a few weeks ago. Car *aggressively* accelerated when there was clearly another parked car in its line of sight. Haven't used parking assist since.

 

[RVAtom]

...However, the car did not start to slow down as I was approaching the cars. I had to do it. Technology is great but at this point humans are still needed in the equation. We are far better at analyzing complex situations.

I read somewhere that one of the hardest things for the software to do is discern between the things that are not moving that are important, and the things that are not moving that are not important. I.E. a car stopped in your lane is a huge problem, a mailbox, roadsign, or the end of a guard rail are not a problem. At interstate speeds these items come into view of the sensors very quickly.

Indeed, I don't quite trust the car to make the initial stop in stop and go, but I sure do love setting the cruise control at 15 mph once we are there. I feel like it accelerates slower at 15 mph rather than regular highway speed setpoints. Might just be in my head.

 

[HuntingPudel]

<SNIP>
I've never had it speed up when cut off, but I have had it slow down fast enough to freak out the driver behind me.
<SNIP>

This is how it usually behaves. This morning... ?‍?

On the plus side, I saw an MME I haven't seen before this morning. It was a white Premium with a paw print decal on the D-pillar. I waved wwhile it was next to me at the stop light, but the driver was playing with his/her phone. ??

 

[Blue highway]

I read somewhere that one of the hardest things for the software to do is discern between the things that are not moving that are important, and the things that are not moving that are not important. I.E. a car stopped in your lane is a huge problem, a mailbox, roadsign, or the end of a guard rail are not a problem. At interstate speeds these items come into view of the sensors very quickly.

Indeed, I don't quite trust the car to make the initial stop in stop and go, but I sure do love setting the cruise control at 15 mph once we are there. I feel like it accelerates slower at 15 mph rather than regular highway speed setpoints. Might just be in my head.

Non moving objects are generally filtered out by radar dependent collision systems. Radar can not tell the difference between a road sign on a curve and a stopped car in your lane. If the object is moving, it does pretty well...

 

[Blue highway]

I wonder where the option is for "Ram the guy who cut you off" is

 

[ChuckA]

Heh, the funny thing was that the car didn't just accelerate a little bit like it normally would if trailing really far back. It really throttled up. My dog looked at me like I was trying to mess with him. ??

If in adaptive cruise behind traffic, and you exit the highway, this will happen when there is no longer traffic holding your speed down. This is why I turned off the sign recognition. Nothing like speeding to 65 when the exit is 30 (doesn’t recognize the yellow speed signs).

 

[Cm12]

I am still skeptical about Blue Cruise. I have played with it a bit in traffic. I DO NOT take my hands off the wheel, since I do not like the lane centering. It always pulls to the right so I am always fighting it a bit to keep it centered.

I was using it the other day on the freeway and traffic ahead of me came to a stop. I had enough time to hit the brakes and start slowing down to avoid that sudden stop that causes rear end accidents. I never trust the people behind me who tend to be watching YouTube, playing games or uploading on Tik Tok while flying down the road at 80 mph. However, the car did not start to slow down as I was approaching the cars. I had to do it. Technology is great but at this point humans are still needed in the equation. We are far better at analyzing complex situations.

I definitely don’t like to take mine off the wheel either. Unfortunately the eye nanny frequently forces me to since I like to drive with one hand on the top of the steering wheel. Hopefully Ford improves that at some point so we can always keep our hands on the wheel when using cruise control (not just BC hands-free, it also happens with regular BC adaptive cruise control).

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I've not had that specific experience, but I have noticed that the car can be slow to realize that another car has cut into my lane. I've found that if I actively steer towards that car, the cruise control does a better job of recognizing it. I feel like the sensors at the corners should be more sensitive, (or that there should be sensors at the corners).

As for the MME's penchant for coming up really fast behind slow/stopped traffic, I found that changing the follow distance to 3 or 4 bars helps a lot. At 1 bar the experience is an E-ticket ride. (A little Californians-of-a-certain-age reference there.)

Sponsored