Blue Cruise Review / Impressions - Consumer Reports Talking Cars

[Boselka]

I’ve never had it yell at me yet. No warnings, nothing. It’s worked great. Used it 5 or 6 times for a total of 40-50 miles.

We got our Mach-E in October, and have been on a Road Tripping frenzy, we have put 9,000 miles on the car in 3 months, traveling from DFW Area in Texas to D.C. area twice now, Driven to Raleigh NC and to Branson. So far our personal best is 127 miles of BC without any interruptions needed. Of course, that was on a straight section of Highway through Arkansas.

Overall I would say it is a good option for the boring stretches of highway or stop and go traffic where the road is straight and boring LOL.

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[Jimrpa]

I'm not sure I understand the criticism of the so-called "eye nanny", but then, I don't have BlueCruise yet. My understanding is that it's to ensure that you're paying attention to driving while BlueCruise is engaged. If you're paying attention to driving while BlueCruise is engaged, why is it a problem? Just as, if you have your hands on the steering wheel when using ACC, the "hands nanny" isn't a problem because it never comes on? I'm sure I must be missing something important here but, for the life of me, I can't figure out what?

 

[RyanSD]

What’s Blue Cruise? Is this a feature that they plan on marketing and selling to future cars? /s

 

[Boselka]

I'm not sure I understand the criticism of the so-called "eye nanny", but then, I don't have BlueCruise yet. My understanding is that it's to ensure that you're paying attention to driving while BlueCruise is engaged. If you're paying attention to driving while BlueCruise is engaged, why is it a problem? Just as, if you have your hands on the steering wheel when using ACC, the "hands nanny" isn't a problem because it never comes on? I'm sure I must be missing something important here but, for the life of me, I can't figure out what?

Once your BlueCruise is enabled the system will be monitoring you and what you pay attention to. If you look away from the road (for example rearview mirrors, or down at the main screen) for more than 5 seconds I believe the car will prompt you to pay attention to the road. It does not bother me that much because it is not overly sensitive or extremely intense in the way it first starts the alert. But some have mentioned that they find the system a little too sensitive.

 

[Mirak]

“What is the difference between BlueCruise and ACC with Lane Keeping? Nothing, because that’s all this is.”

Ouch.

Overall, this review didn’t really add much for us “early adopters” who are trying to figure out whether to spend $500 to swap the eye nanny for the hand nanny.

 

[Jimrpa]

Once your BlueCruise is enabled the system will be monitoring you and what you pay attention to. If you look away from the road (for example rearview mirrors, or down at the main screen) for more than 5 seconds I believe the car will prompt you to pay attention to the road. It does not bother me that much because it is not overly sensitive or extremely intense in the way it first starts the alert. But some have mentioned that they find the system a little too sensitive.

5 seconds doesn't sound like a big deal. At 60 MPH, the car will have traveled 440 feet in 5 seconds. I think it's fair to ask that you check in on the car after it's traveled almost 500 feet. Maybe as more data is collected that interval can be increased?

 

[Jimrpa]

What’s Blue Cruise? Is this a feature that they plan on marketing and selling to future cars? /s

It's a feature that early adopters were teased with and will never, ever see unless we buy new cars.

 

[The Black Horse]

Am I foolish for looking to buy a car this technologically advanced with no intention of using any of these driver assist features?

I don't even use cruise control on my current car.

 

[CtsGTP]

I used BC today and it was very smooth and did not give me the feeling of not being in control, it took a few curves very well but it also informed me to put my hands back on the wheel…. Not sure if the road was the issue or an error but I am satisfied so far with the Blue Cruise.

 

[Accord07]

Once your BlueCruise is enabled the system will be monitoring you and what you pay attention to. If you look away from the road (for example rearview mirrors, or down at the main screen) for more than 5 seconds I believe the car will prompt you to pay attention to the road. It does not bother me that much because it is not overly sensitive or extremely intense in the way it first starts the alert. But some have mentioned that they find the system a little too sensitive.

I have received the warnings only a handful of times. In the first couple of days I was concerned that lane centering hugged right, partly because the way I drive is just the opposite and I usually stay too close to the left, so I watched the side mirror for a tad too long. After that it went off a few times when I had my coffee cup or water bottle up, but that is an easy "problem" to deal with once I realized my face was partially blocked by the cup/bottle.

It boggles my mind that some folks are bothered by being expected to keep their eyes on the road ahead while operating a motor vehicle at highway speed.

 

[Accord07]

I figure that I’ll probably use it with my hands on the wheel but at least I won’t have to keep twitching to keep the warning away. The eye nanny - I don’t know about yet as I have no experience with it. Seems pretty sensitive from other reports, I.e. too quick to yell at you. I don’t know. I guess I’ll see when I get it. Might hate it, might not.

Out of habit I place one hand on the steering wheel most of the time anyway, I just wish there is something to rest my elbow on.

 

[Mirak]

I have some nitty gritty BC questions….

What is the actual sequence of warning prompts? (How long is the delay between breaking eye contact and getting a popup warning on the IPC? What does that look like? Is there an audible prompt at the same time or does that only occur after an additional delay? Then when does the mechanical prompt kick in?)

Has Ford ever produced a zoomable detailed map of the so-called Blue Zones?

Once BC is software-enabled on the car, if you don’t like it can you deactivate it and just use regular ACC/LC/Hand Nanny instead? How do you do that?

Is activating BC exactly the same as activating ACC/LC (one press of the “magic button” on the left side of steering wheel)?

Before pressing the magic button, does BC make any changes to the IPC? Do you get some sort of prompt that you’re in a Blue Zone before the magic button is pushed?

If you press the magic button but you are not in a Blue Zone, does the IPC look the same as regular ACC/LC or different?

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

I have well over 500 miles of driving with BlueCruise active thanks to my many trips to Chicago and back to Michigan. I really like the system and haven't had any major issues or sketchy moments caused by it. Other than a slight right side of the lane bias, it's been pretty awesome. It stays active on almost all of I-94 between Detroit and Chicago, with the exception of a couple of short stretches and construction zones. It's not some kind of revolutionary self-driving system, but being able to go hands-free is a nice upgrade from standard ACC + lane keeping in my opinion.

 

[Boselka]

I have some nitty gritty BC questions….

Hopefully this helps:
What is the actual sequence of warning prompts? (How long is the delay between breaking eye contact and getting a popup warning on the IPC? What does that look like? Is there an audible prompt at the same time or does that only occur after an additional delay? Then when does the mechanical prompt kick in?)

• If you look away from the road for about 5 Seconds. The car will sound an audible soft ding and then a message on the screen will appear.
• I am not familiar if you don't return your eyes to the road what happens as I usually have just looked back.
• Based on what I have read the car prompts you with more aggressive tones and more frequent alerts a few times before it does a mechanical prompt by tapping the breaks to jar you a bit (incase you are asleep) but I am not sure how long from the first prompt this takes palce.

Has Ford ever produced a zoomable detailed map of the so-called Blue Zones?

• I have not found one, but looking at the non-zoomable maps I have been operating under the assumption that it is Interstate Highway only. If it works on a State Highway that is divided it is just a plus for me.
• Side note you can also toggle on a setting where the car will alert you if BlueCruise is available on the road that you are on.

Once BC is software-enabled on the car, if you don’t like it can you deactivate it and just use regular ACC/LC/Hand Nanny instead? How do you do that?

• There are settings under the vehicle's settings on if you do or don't want BlueCruise to run when you have Cruise control. Alternatively, if you deactivate Lane Centering it deactivates the full BlueCruise function.

Is activating BC exactly the same as activating ACC/LC (one press of the “magic button” on the left side of steering wheel)?

• Yes same exact process one press of the Cruise Button (if your settings are enabled and you are on a BlueCruise pre-mapped road you will be prompted that it is a BlueCruise Road and the system will prompt once HandsFree Mode is enabled.

Before pressing the magic button, does BC make any changes to the IPC? Do you get some sort of prompt that you’re in a Blue Zone before the magic button is pushed?

• Yes if you have the alert mentioned above turned on you will receive a notification on the display behind the wheel that Blue Cruise is available on this road. But once that notification is dismissed nothing on the display indicates it's availability any more.

If you press the magic button but you are not in a Blue Zone, does the IPC look the same as regular ACC/LC or different?

• Correct, on a non-pre-mapped road it is just normal ACC & LC with your hands on the wheel. You will not get any "Blue Cruise" Prompts.

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

I have some nitty gritty BC questions….

What is the actual sequence of warning prompts? (How long is the delay between breaking eye contact and getting a popup warning on the IPC? What does that look like? Is there an audible prompt at the same time or does that only occur after an additional delay? Then when does the mechanical prompt kick in?)
Feels like approx. 10-15 seconds of inattentiveness before you get the prompt to watch the road. The warning is both audible and visual on the driver's display telling you to watch the road. I've never ignored it long enough for it to get to the next phase. Another interesting thing, if you get prompted to pay attention, look at the road for just a sec to get the warning to go away, then go back to looking somewhere else it will yell at you again much faster (<5 seconds). It seems more tolerant to longer stretches of in-attentiveness if they are spaced out a bit.

Has Ford ever produced a zoomable detailed map of the so-called Blue Zones?
No

Once BC is software-enabled on the car, if you don’t like it can you deactivate it and just use regular ACC/LC/Hand Nanny instead? How do you do that?
It was active on my car as soon as I activated it in FordPass. BlueCruise automatically turns on if you enable ACC + lane-keeping on a mapped highway. If you don't like it, I guess just don't let go of the wheel and pretend it's not there?

Is activating BC exactly the same as activating ACC/LC (one press of the “magic button” on the left side of steering wheel)?
Yes

Before pressing the magic button, does BC make any changes to the IPC? Do you get some sort of prompt that you’re in a Blue Zone before the magic button is pushed?
There's a toggle in the cruise control settings to notify you on the driver's display when you've entered a highway where BlueCruise is available. That message will also tell you to press the cruise control button to turn it on. The entire driver's display turns blue regardless of day or night display mode when it's active. That makes it very obvious when it's turning on or off.

If you press the magic button but you are not in a Blue Zone, does the IPC look the same as regular ACC/LC or different?
Same

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