Blue instrument cluster when using BlueCruise?

billy_at

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Last week, I got the free BlueCruise software update and tried it out for the first time. When I got on the interstate and I turned on lane centering and cruise control, the entire instrument cluster turned blue to indicate that BlueCruise was on.

It was great. However, since that first trip, I donā€™t see that behavior anymore ā€” itā€™s always just a black background even when Iā€™m on the same interstates that in the past lit up the instrument cluster in blue. What am I doing wrong? Is there a setting I need to change? Or did a subsequent update change the behavior?

I do get a little popup on the instrument cluster telling me BlueCruise is on (it has an okay button) but thatā€™s it.

I wish I took a photo of the original instrument cluster but I didnā€™t.
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SnBGC

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Do you get the hands on wheel symbol down at the bottom? If so, then BC is not active.

Here is what my car looks like when I am driving on a BC road. BC doesn't work on my car either. I have the hardware and software but BC has never worked on my car......not even once.

20220625_022922.jpg


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billy_at

billy_at

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Hmm so now I see the "hands-on-wheel" icon but I didn't see it the other day when the entire instrument cluster was lit blue.

However, I now get a brief alert whenever lane centering and cruise control are on that says "BlueCruise is enabled." Very strange.
 

timbop

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Yeah, Ford shot themselves in the foot by expanding the definition of "BlueCruise". It can refer to EITHER the hands-on or hands-off automatic lane centering.

When the hands-off is working then yes the instrument panel is blue. I've had hit-or-miss behavior with it on the AC expressway and garden state parkway: on exactly the same stretch of road the handsfree engages about 50% of the time.

Anyway here is what the handsfree screen looks like when it is yelling at you for holding your cell phone in front of your face so it can't see where you're looking (the "watch the road" message):
Ford Mustang Mach-E Blue instrument cluster when using BlueCruise? pxl_20220514_232319945-
 

macchiaz-o

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@billy_at, from your post, it does sound like you're doing the right things so I'm not sure how to help, but if you are able to post a photo of the instrument cluster that might help us see some important detail. The big ones are to activate both adaptive cruise and lane centering using your steering wheel controls. Since you are seeing the "BlueCruise is active" message, I think it means you've done that.

Some things to double check:

Check your Adaptive Cruise Control settings to verify that they match the ones @SnBGC is showing above.

Also, bring up your navigation display and verify that while you're on the highway, the car agrees. Some of us have been having an intermittent issue where the car is tracking the wrong location. If that happens, hands free driving mode won't activate.
 


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billy_at

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Thanks - these are very helpful. Iā€™ll check the Lane Centering with Hands-Free setting tomorrow morning. Itā€™s surprising to learn that there are separate hands-on and hands-free BlueCruise modes but the Ford video confirms it.

@timbop I was also testing this on the ACE and Garden State Parkway today! It didnā€™t work for me there but the time it functioned correctly was on I-295.

Is there a way to see a detailed map of which highways are pre-cleared for hands-free BlueCruise?
 

timbop

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Thanks - these are very helpful. Iā€™ll check the Lane Centering with Hands-Free setting tomorrow morning. Itā€™s surprising to learn that there are separate hands-on and hands-free BlueCruise modes but the Ford video confirms it.

@timbop I was also testing this on the ACE and Garden State Parkway today! It didnā€™t work for me there but the time it functioned correctly was on I-295.

Is there a way to see a detailed map of which highways are pre-cleared for hands-free BlueCruise?
Huh - We drove down to wildwood tuesday on ACE and GSP and it did handsfree for all but a few spots where the lane lines diverge. Coming home today in the reverse direction it worked both ways. So I was 100% and you were 0% to get the 50% net average šŸ˜œ

At this point you might have to make a Horcrux to get it to work....
 

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I agree its spotty. I used Blue Cruise on a local highway and it worked great and handsfree. I was recently on that same highway got the message its Blue Cruise available I activated and it didnt go handsfree it said to keep my hands on the wheel in the same area it worked handsfree in the past. I tried it multiple times didnt work handsfree. Very spotty! not sure what happened I check all my settings and they are correct.
 

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I find the entire blue cruise system much more spotty than the lane centering before the update. it barely turns on lane keep on secondary roads and its very hit or miss on actual blue cruise hand free zones. When it works, its pretty great however.
 
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billy_at

billy_at

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Hmm so it worked fine for me today on two different highways Iā€™d never tried before. Canā€™t say why.

My settings were fine - didnā€™t have to change anything.

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Maquis

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Itā€™s maddening. I did a road trip on I70 this weekend. Outbound was flawless - only a couple spots with poor lane markings where hands-free disengaged. Heading home, no issues to start out. 70 miles in, I stopped to charge. I returned to the highway and nothing. No hands-free, no lane centering, nothing. No messages, either. Iā€˜m willing to bet it will work flawlessly the next time I start the car. But why???
 

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Itā€™s maddening. I did a road trip on I70 this weekend. Outbound was flawless - only a couple spots with poor lane markings where hands-free disengaged. Heading home, no issues to start out. 70 miles in, I stopped to charge. I returned to the highway and nothing. No hands-free, no lane centering, nothing. No messages, either. Iā€˜m willing to bet it will work flawlessly the next time I start the car. But why???
It's hard to say for sure, but when this has happened to me, it's because the GPS bugged out.

It seems to happen more in areas with poor reception - never happens to me in town, only when I'm in the middle of nowhere.

Stopping the car and restarting it has always fixed it before, but I don't know how to reset the GPS while the car is still in motion.
 

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I've posted about this here , but essentially it seems to work half the time on exactly the same roads. The theory is that the GPS is accurate enough to recognize you're on a handsfree road some of the time, but nowhere near 100% of the time.
 

Maquis

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It's hard to say for sure, but when this has happened to me, it's because the GPS bugged out.

It seems to happen more in areas with poor reception - never happens to me in town, only when I'm in the middle of nowhere.

Stopping the car and restarting it has always fixed it before, but I don't know how to reset the GPS while the car is still in motion.
I was using the nav system at the time and seemed to be working flawlessly. Does nav use the same GPS for positioning as BC? I never really thought about it.
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