3,380 trip experience with BlueCruise

[Brussam]

We just finished a 3,380 mile, 36 charge stop trip from Mission, TX to Milwaukee, WI and then to Ludlow Falls (Dayton), OH, Franklin (Nashville), TN and back to Mission in our Mach-e Premier that we purchased March 2021. Blue Cruise had just been enabled on our car after an OTA update and there is not much BC qualified roadway in Mission, TX. Most of this trip was on Blue Cruise highways.

I love it. I trust the steering. Only thing that after 60 years of driving, yes 60 years, I had a challenging time on where to put my hands.

Blue Cruise is not perfect yet. There are dropouts where suddenly you are told to put your hands back on the wheel with a boom-boom warning. And then almost immediately, the Blue Cruise returns.

Since we drive the speed limit with Adaptive Cruise. We drove just a bit faster than the trucks and a lot slower than most of the traffic. I wish we had a lane change feature like Tesla has where you tap the turn signal level and if the lane is clear, the car moves to the lane. Right now, I turn on the turn signal which deactivates BC, change the lane and BC comes back and then repeat to go back into the right lane.

My wife refuses to let go of the wheel. She is a control freak and will not use 1-pedal either. She had gotten used to adaptive cruise when she backs off on the speed a bit.

We have a year to play with Blue Cruise. We seldom take long trips but I am trending to licensing it when the time comes.

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[bosbruce]

I have yet to go on a long trip with BC but at first thought it was a silly gimmick, trading eye tracking for hand sensing... After using it for a few 10-30 minute highway runs I'm thinking perhaps it will be a useful tool at times...

Having had a Tesla Model 3 AWD+ I wanted to clarify that Tesla with *standard* autopilot will not change lanes for you. In fact I far prefer even Ford's non-BC intelligent cruise to Tesla AP because Tesla beeps when you attempt to change lanes even if the turn signal is on, disengages, then needs to be manually re-engaged. Noisy and annoying, especially to my wife, so much so that I stopped using it except for short stretches I didn't think I'd need to be changing lanes. Tesla's formerly $12k Full Self Driving (now I *think* this feature will be included in new $6k enhanced auto pilot) does do the auto lane change for you but behaved very badly the few times I tried to use that feature. I like Ford's more seemless disengage and reengage with turn signal and lane change a lot better. Also, I believe Blue Cruise is supposed to receive an update where it will change lanes for you with the turn signal...

From another perspective, IMO letting Ford *OR* Tesla drive for you is a lot like letting a nervous 15 year old take over... sure they can handle very obvious things staying in lane and keeping speed, but are both easily confused. The biggest difference to me is that Tesla's teenager is overconfident and continues to try to drive even when it is a bit confused, while Ford's is more timid and gives up and asks you to take over before things might get dicey. Tesla can drive in more cases than Ford, but I've also had to fight harder to wrest control back from TeslaTeen AP trying to drive me into a stone wall or the like...

 

[AndyR]

We just finished a 3,380 mile, 36 charge stop trip from Mission, TX to Milwaukee, WI and then to Ludlow Falls (Dayton), OH, Franklin (Nashville), TN and back to Mission in our Mach-e Premier that we purchased March 2021. Blue Cruise had just been enabled on our car after an OTA update and there is not much BC qualified roadway in Mission, TX. Most of this trip was on Blue Cruise highways.

I love it. I trust the steering. Only thing that after 60 years of driving, yes 60 years, I had a challenging time on where to put my hands.

Blue Cruise is not perfect yet. There are dropouts where suddenly you are told to put your hands back on the wheel with a boom-boom warning. And then almost immediately, the Blue Cruise returns.

Since we drive the speed limit with Adaptive Cruise. We drove just a bit faster than the trucks and a lot slower than most of the traffic. I wish we had a lane change feature like Tesla has where you tap the turn signal level and if the lane is clear, the car moves to the lane. Right now, I turn on the turn signal which deactivates BC, change the lane and BC comes back and then repeat to go back into the right lane.

My wife refuses to let go of the wheel. She is a control freak and will not use 1-pedal either. She had gotten used to adaptive cruise when she backs off on the speed a bit.

We have a year to play with Blue Cruise. We seldom take long trips but I am trending to licensing it when the time comes.

We also just finished a 2800 mile road trip with similar results. I think the BC is well worth the $200/yr.

As to where my hands go, I tend to have my elbow on the window and my fingertips on the wheel, either that or I am eating something...LOL

Lane changing, it would be nice, but not near the $6000 or whatever Tesla charges, as far as I am concerned.

 

[npgeorgeuw]

I've used it a ton over the last four months and honestly tend to use it less every day or week since then. It ping pongs far too much for my liking and far more than my EV6. I was surprised just how different (worse) it was than my lowly Kia. I'm sure some of it is our poorly marked roads.

It has come in handy while eating if I need to keep on the move. Otherwise I tire quickly of the fickle hands free now, grip the wheel now, you're not looking forward (I actually am, almost always), etc. Too much nanny not enough stability in my mind. Some tweaks to the nannies and a total redo with how it's centering lanes and I'd use if a ton more. Still feels very beta to me.

Is it worth $200 a year? Maybe? I'd say yes but as I've used it more I've found myself NOT wanting to use it more which is generally a good metric of if it's worth it to me. My EV6's augmentation of cruise control, I have used it more often thus far but it's only been a month.

Perhaps most important in my family, the Mach E is the wife's car and she refuses to use it after watching it in use.

 

[jdunc87]

Im from the Columbus area, we did a trip from Columbus to Louisville and by the time the trip was over I was ready to never use blue cruise again. I cannot stand it. It sucks at off ramps, it tries to drive you into the right side of the lane/into the other lane constantly. Its literally going to hit another car one of these days. The eye monitors are absolute garbage. They go off constantly while I'm LOOKING AT THE ROAD! When it expires I likely will not be re-subscribing. It is 1000 percent not worth the money they will be asking for it, unless changes are made.

 

[RockwallRick]

Im from the Columbus area, we did a trip from Columbus to Louisville and by the time the trip was over I was ready to never use blue cruise again. I cannot stand it. It sucks at off ramps, it tries to drive you into the right side of the lane/into the other lane constantly. Its literally going to hit another car one of these days. The eye monitors are absolute garbage. They go off constantly while I'm LOOKING AT THE ROAD! When it expires I likely will not be re-subscribing. It is 1000 percent not worth the money they will be asking for it, unless changes are made.

I have only used it a couple times so far but my experience was just about the opposite from yours! Never got an eye monitor warning or felt like it was drifting out of the lane. I need to do a longer road trip to decide if it is really worth it or not? I am 1000 % sure that my Wife will never try it out! Lol

 

[RickMachE]

This thread shows why you can develop any feature for any product, and fail to satisfy 50% of the people all the time...

 

[sotek2345]

I will say that I love Blue Cruise! We haven't taken a trip as long as yours, but on any type of longer highway drive, I find BlueCruise very relaxing - especially if I am driving alone. Just put it on, play an audiobook and watch the road go by. Absolutely worth the money when the time comes.

I also really like how Ford handled the manual lane changes - very easy and intuitive how you take control and then give it back.

 

[RLW]

I've had Blue Cruise since May 5th and I really like it. I live in the middle TN area about 25 minutes south of Nashville. I have used Blue Cruise on 3 long road trips, including one to the Atlanta area and another to Charlotte, NC. Yes, some of what others are describing can be frustrating about using Blue Cruise, but it has made a long road trip so much easier to bear. I expect to drive my car and have never expected Blue Cruise to do that for me. So when it goes in and out it doesn't bother me. On my drive back from Charlotte, Blue Cruise did not work on the 6-hour drive back home and I was much more fatigued than when I had Blue Cruise on the 6-hour drive to Charlotte. I will say, if my wife drove the car she would refuse to use Blue Cruise at all. Right now, I would pay the $200 a year subscription for Blue Cruise.

 

[minjaep]

For me, one critical issue of Bluecruise is related to lane centering. In most cases, it keeps leaning to the ride side, and my wife feels very uncomfortable as she feels it is too close to the cars on her side (in particular when we pass by a large truck.) So I always adjust the steering wheel even though Bluecruise is on, which makes this feature not much different from a regular cruise.

I think this becomes a negligible issue if you only drive on the rightmost lane with the speed limit... because there is no car on the right side. Maybe it is intended for that, but I never do that.

 

[Triggerhappy007]

I think this becomes a negligible issue if you only drive on the rightmost lane with the speed limit... because there is no car on the right side. Maybe it is intended for that, but I never do that.

Actually BC hates the right lane because of exits. It has to decide to exit or keep going straight. If you use it in the right lane, it will deactivate more frequently and you'll have to do more adjustments. The thing with BC cruise is that it always swerve to the right of the lane first so it seems like it's not going to be centered but just let it do its thing to center itself. Just remember that it's best to activate BC when no cars are next to you.

 

[minjaep]

Actually BC hates the right lane because of exits. It has to decide to exit or keep going straight. If you use it in the right lane, it will deactivate more frequently and you'll have to do more adjustments. The thing with BC cruise is that it always swerve to the right of the lane first so it seems like it's not going to be centered but just let it do its thing to center itself. Just remember that it's best to activate BC when no cars are next to you.

It never turns off for exits and ramps and it just goes straight in my experience on the right lanes. But I agree that it needs more attention as many cars are in and out on that lane.

I have not felt it centers well during my 30-40 minute drive to my workplace. (I always turn it on, but just keep my hands on.) And on my usual trips, there are not a few minutes when a car does not exist if it needs some time on clear roads to adjust.

 

[Triggerhappy007]

I have not felt it centers well during my 30-40 minute drive to my workplace. (I always turn it on, but just keep my hands on.)

It sounds like you are not using BC's potential. BC is hands off driving. Yeah, it's scary at first and it's not for everyone. Try it hands off. Yes, you'll still have to do some correcting when there are other cars around you, avoiding potholes, etc. If that's not for you, you can turn off the hands off feature in settings.

 

[bosbruce]

Having now used BC for a whopping 2 90 minute drives, I can say I like that it adds another set of changes to deal with so actually keeps me *more* engaged than just using intelligent cruise + lane keeping... I am not 100% sure of the algorithm at this point but it switched from hands-free BC to hands on several times that seemed to be related to major exits or highway splits. Is there a highway database that it uses to decide you need hands on the wheel at these locations or is it just the software deciding what it sees ahead looks too complicated for hands free? Having seen this switching (even though I hated all the alarming my Tesla did) I do wish there was some sort of an audible indication in addition to visual when this switch happens. Not a huge deal unless you have defeated the eye tracking as your eyes must be forward facing so you *should* see the transition.

Also, one more addition to my previous comments on Tesla/Ford autopilot being a bit like letting a nervous 15 y/o take the wheel... It is a nervous teenager with INCREDIBLE focus longevity which is certainly the advantage of all this tech over the average driver.

 

[Blue PonyE]

I love it. I trust the steering. Only thing that after 60 years of driving, yes 60 years, I had a challenging time on where to put my hands.

Obviously, one holds the breakfast sandwich and the other the coffee.
That's what I did on a recent trip down I5 to the Oregon coast. Mostly used adaptive cruise control w/o BlueCruise engaged.
Kidding aside, is there a mileage penalty associated with using BlueCruise?

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