Blue Cruise 1.3 Update - experience

[nkshetty]

Hi

I have a 2022 Mustang Mach E GT Edition and recently few days ago I received the Blue Cruise 1.3 update and wanted to share my experience. I have been waiting for this since last Fall and I m glad its finally on my car. I drove on Freeway for a test drive and so far so good. I drove almost 100 miles hands free (two round trips on Freeway to city) and the vehicle lane changing and navigating on curves was really smooth and much better compared 1.0 where we had to constantly intervene. The latest update calls out if lane changing is possible or not and did well even at nighttime.
Thanks, Ford, for getting this out.

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[Guss-E 2021]

Funnily, I'm less impressed. I feel like the system disengages more than it used to, not less. It is also slower to fully engage hands free driving on parts of highway it used to activate instantly on.

I'd gladly give up the lane changing to get back the higher level of engagement I had before. Speaking of the lane changing, it definitely doesn't account for the speed of vehicles approaching from behind in adjacent lanes. To avoid getting reared ended, I'll only use the lanes change in very light traffic.

So far my experience with 1.3 has done little to convince me it is worth the $800/yr @FordMotorCompany wants for a renewal.

 

[PilotMark]

I generally like 1.3 It behaves a little better to my feel. Not data driven just the feel.

Only downside, I no longer have the speed sign recognition and the adjust + 10. When I pass a speed sign the car now adjusts to that speed without the ability to increase my speed.

The new speed recognition flashes the sign on the dash but I have not seen any difference in the behavior with any position on the associated slider.

I normally drive 5 over and now I either have to bump the increase 5 times every time I pass a speed sign or turn off speed recognition.

Have everyone lost this too? Or did my update miss something?

 

[AtomicInternet]

I mostly drive I-75 and I-26, so the sharp mountain turns already indicated as not supported on the BlueCruise map were the only disengagements I've had happen. They're very sharp turns, so I was expecting it to disengage, but it did surprise me with a few fairly sharp turns it drove through and stayed engaged.

The only time I've had an unexpected disengagement is during construction when they decided to just skip painting lines for the length of the bridge. The "Resume Control" alert came up halfway across the bridge since the cameras were looking at fresh unpainted cement (no reference points whatsoever). Fortunately, it was only 4 bridges in the 5 mile construction zone.

 

[CWSpook]

I received 1.3 about a week ago. I'm 60-100 miles from anywhere I can use true hands-free BC. I did have the chance on Thursday to try it on a 5 mile stretch of I90 near LaCrosse WI, and it worked as advertised. Lane change and lane shifting for an adjacent semi worked fine. What impressed me most was how much better hands-on BC is. It picked up to stretches of roads where it had never worked before, and the speed sign recognition and slow down as I drove through small towns, and the speed adjustment on sharp curves worked almost flawlessly. It's the most useful update I've had in the 18 months we've owned the Mach-E

 

[SpongeBad]

I generally like 1.3 It behaves a little better to my feel. Not data driven just the feel.

Only downside, I no longer have the speed sign recognition and the adjust + 10. When I pass a speed sign the car now adjusts to that speed without the ability to increase my speed.

The new speed recognition flashes the sign on the dash but I have not seen any difference in the behavior with any position on the associated slider.

I normally drive 5 over and now I either have to bump the increase 5 times every time I pass a speed sign or turn off speed recognition.

Have everyone lost this too? Or did my update miss something?

My speed sign recognition has been wonky since the update, too. I'm also getting phantom speed limit changes, with sudden reductions to 80km/h on roads that have a 100km/h speed limit with no sign in sight. It must be picking those up from the GPS, but no idea why. Apple Maps shows the speed limit correctly, but the dash shows 80.

On the plus side, BC is generally better. It cuts out much less frequently. I deliberately drove through some "problem areas", including some big curves, and it stayed engaged. Lane changes have also been working well. I just wish I could fully engage the turn signal and have it disengage after the lane change. I can do the "slight hold" and it works fine, but a set it and forget it with full push would be better.

 

[dmitry]

So far so good! But …. About lane changing feature. I did found it to be unsafe in conjunction traffic. In empty roads it’s working, but when cars are around it’s doing this like my 15 years old son behind the wheel. It needs improvements for sure. And please, if drivers hands are on the wheel the lane changing should be off or at least should not intervene to my maneuvers when I push turn signal. Right now when BC is on and I’m changing lanes it’s fights back, starts beeping and throwing “cancel by driver” notification. It’s distracting and creates unpleasant situations. At current version I would prefer not have this feature and if it is possible would keep it turned off. Here is my question, does it possible to keep lane changing assist off while BC is on? Otherwise BC is not useful.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

Update: Something may have changed.

Does the car learn? Last night I drove home 63 miles and BC stayed engaged the whole time! Even on sections of the highway it previously shut down (both before and immediately after the update).

At any rate, I'm thankful. I did not start my hour+ long drive until after 11pm (concert got out late and needed a ride back to my car). Staying awake was a real challenge (did the head bounce several times near the end). The only two times BC shut off was when I turned it off to get through some sketchy interchange sections I didn't quite trust the car to handle smoothly. Weird to think the system works better at night. Lines on the road were very clear and reflecting back well. Had ACC set at 70mph (3.1 miles/kWh the whole way in case anyone cares ?).

The experience was so positive, I even contemplated shelling out the ridiculous $800/year to renew. I was of course very tired and not in my right mind. I have since returned to the land of the moderately sane.

 

[ChasingCoral]

On Saturday I had my longest continuous Hands-Off BC experience. While my Mach E has BC 1.4, it is about the same as the 1.3 going out now. It was Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend, so there was more traffic in spots than normal.

I exited MD-200, the Inter-County Connector, onto I-270 in Gaithersburg, MD. Drove 28 miles to exit off US-15 on the north side of Frederick, MD. FYI: I-270 basically becomes US-15 in Frederick.

For the entire 28-mile stretch, I never once was asked to take control of the steering wheel and never had to do so preemptively. I never touched the brake or accelerator. The only instructions I gave the car were a few times when activated the turn signal indicator to initiate lane changes. My Mach E did the rest.

Yes, there were a few times as we rapidly approached stopped traffic that I covered the brake with my foot and had my hands at the ready to take the wheel. However, I never had to do so.

Not only did the car drive past exit and entry tramps without my input, there were at least three sections of pavement where they had repaved the road and there was no outside line.

I am definitely impressed with how well BlueCruise 1.3/1.4 is doing on limited access highways. This is the first time I've taken a trip that I was able to provide no instruction to the car other than instructing it to change lanes.

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