BlueCruise 1.3 - Hands-Free

[NewGuy]

Since the update to BlueCruise 1.3, I’m finding that it allows me to go HandsFree much less frequently than with 1.0.

Today I did two hours of highway driving on BlueCruise mapped roads and it required hands on the whole time. Conditions were clear and road lines were very visible

While there are times when Hands-Free fires right up, this isn’t the first time it’s required hands on.

Has anyone else noticed this or know a solution.

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[SonicBlue]

At least one other person here has said that 1.3 is worse.

I wouldn’t know. I drive a 2021 First Edition. So naturally I’m still on 1.0.

 

[1976 Pinto]

Since the update to BlueCruise 1.3, I’m finding that it allows me to go HandsFree much less frequently than with 1.0.

Today I did two hours of highway driving on BlueCruise mapped roads and it required hands on the whole time. Conditions were clear and road lines were very visible

While there are times when Hands-Free fires right up, this isn’t the first time it’s required hands on.

Has anyone else noticed this or know a solution.

I’m still on 1.0 but I have noticed that hands free turns off above 80 MPH. Were you by chance traveling faster than 80?

 

[AliRafiee]

For me it is asking for hands where it didn’t used to, and a lot of it.
But staying hands free where it used to ask for hands.

 

[NewGuy]

I’m still on 1.0 but I have noticed that hands free turns off above 80 MPH. Were you by chance traveling faster than 80?

I wish, but no. I was going a mix of speeds but usually much slower than that.

For me it is asking for hands where it didn’t used to, and a lot of it.
But staying hands free where it used to ask for hands.

Several weeks ago, I did the same long round trip two weeks apart, and got 1.3 in between. It was mostly on a long well-traveled BlueCruise-mapped highway. 1.0 worked great on the roundtrip; 1.3 didn’t allow Hands-Free at all going there, and worked the whole back.

Lane changes are neat, but 1.0 seemed to work almost everywhere for me and 1.3 is much more hit or miss.

 

[Snakebitten]

I'm looking forward to hearing the explanation for why some are reporting 1.3 as having diminished hands free opportunity.

I found it very much just the opposite, although I'm speaking for an F150 that was upgraded from 1.0 to 1.3/1.4

My Mach-E came with 1.3 and although I don't use it much for traveling, and therefore fewer Bluecruise opportunities, I never experienced it NOT engaging Bluecruise exactly and promptly when I did enter a Bluecruise roadway.

Anyways, there's got to be an explanation, whether we ever hear one or not. Maybe a future update for the Bluecruise stack will solve the dilemma regardless.

 

[electric-in-the-desert]

I'm looking forward to hearing the explanation for why some are reporting 1.3 as having diminished hands free opportunity.

I found it very much just the opposite, although I'm speaking for an F150 that was upgraded from 1.0 to 1.3/1.4

My Mach-E came with 1.3 and although I don't use it much for traveling, and therefore fewer Bluecruise opportunities, I never experienced it NOT engaging Bluecruise exactly and promptly when I did enter a Bluecruise roadway.

Anyways, there's got to be an explanation, whether we ever hear one or not. Maybe a future update for the Bluecruise stack will solve the dilemma regardless.

Interestingly bluecruise seems to consistently have issues in California. I know at least a couple other forum members have noted this as well. We roadtrip out there every six months or so and have had issues with hand free engaging on mapped highways in LA and around central California on both 1.2 and 1.3.

Meanwhile I never have issues getting it to engage around Phoenix

 

[SonicBlue]

Several weeks ago, I did the same long round trip two weeks apart, and got 1.3 in between. It was mostly on a long well-traveled BlueCruise-mapped highway. 1.0 worked great on the roundtrip; 1.3 didn’t allow Hands-Free at all going there, and worked the whole back.

Depending on time of day, can you rule out harsh lighting? Seems odd that it would work one direction but not the other.

I’m sure you know this, but BC is a mostly optical system and doesn’t perform well when the sun blinds the sensor. Just trying to rule things out.

 

[hybrid2bev]

Since the update to BlueCruise 1.3, I’m finding that it allows me to go HandsFree much less frequently than with 1.0.

Today I did two hours of highway driving on BlueCruise mapped roads and it required hands on the whole time. Conditions were clear and road lines were very visible

While there are times when Hands-Free fires right up, this isn’t the first time it’s required hands on.

Has anyone else noticed this or know a solution.

Sounds like maybe a GPS issue. If the car doesn’t think it’s in a blue zone then hands free won’t work.

I had the same thing happen back when I had BC 1.0. Going to my destination BCHF worked but going back home on the same expressway it did not (BCHO only). Then BCHF worked fine the next day.

Maybe try turning the car completely off for about 20 minutes so the modules go to sleep and then try again

 

[Gullwingdmc]

I've had the 1.3 update for about a month and a half and I'll say I have noticed changes to when it goes Hands On too. though I will say it is mixed.

For reference I drive to work on the same highway 4 days a week. With 1.0 I knew the exact 2 spots where Hands Free would drop out, always around 2 curvy sections of the road.

Since the 1.3 update the Hands Free drop out in those sections has either been eliminated, or greatly reduced. However, I do tend to get random Hands Free dropouts at other points on the road where I never used to. It's not consistent, and there doesn't seem to be any reason for it to happen, like the road being curvy.

Overall I will say the performance is greatly improved, particularly the smoothness and centering in the lane. I didn't notice a huge change at first, but after a few weeks I had to drive my husbands Mach-E which still has 1.0 (2021) and it was noticeably worse than mine on 1.3. Im sure mine was just as bad on 1.0, but I was used to it. Now what I am used to 1.3, going back to 1.0 is like getting in the car with a new driver.

 

[NewGuy]

Depending on time of day, can you rule out harsh lighting? Seems odd that it would work one direction but not the other.

I’m sure you know this, but BC is a mostly optical system and doesn’t perform well when the sun blinds the sensor. Just trying to rule things out.

I thought about that as I drove. Lighting wasn’t harsh. It was overcast yesterday so the lighting was pretty even

Sounds like maybe a GPS issue. If the car doesn’t think it’s in a blue zone then hands free won’t work.

This is what it feels like. I didn’t flip to the in-car nav to see if it knew where I was, but Apple and Google maps were accurate. Not sure why it wouldn’t know it was in a blue zone.

It was overcast yesterday; but I’ve had it work fine in heavy downpours.

 

[electric-in-the-desert]

Sounds like maybe a GPS issue. If the car doesn’t think it’s in a blue zone then hands free won’t work.

Yeah I wonder if something is funky with how it’s receiving/parsing the LiDAR geofencing data.

Another interesting data point sort of related to this — I’ve noticed that on 1.3 it takes much longer to engage and is more likely to disengage on the right-most lane near an on-ramp. Meanwhile it immediately kicks on if I shift over one lane

 

[Neil4Real]

I've just found it kind of bugs out now when first trying to enable BC, occasionally while driving it'll do the same. I just had it happen today - I got on the freeway, turned it on and no pop up like normal that BC was on, did ACC with hands on BC (which usually still triggers the BC pop up). I waited a minute or two, never engaged. What has reliably fixed it for me, short of pulling over and turning the car on and off, is turning on my turn signal. I turned it on for a few clicks and boom, turned on.

 

[phil]

At least one other person here has said that 1.3 is worse.

A lot of people - including me - find 1.3 worse. But I think we are still a minority.

 

[dr__bob]

So today I had an interesting 1.3 experience. On a section of I-215S (south of Riverside), BCHF disengaged for about 3 miles of a perfectly straight section of the road. Then, just before coming to a moderately sharp right bend, where 1.0 would always disengage, 1.3 re-engaged HF and stayed on for the rest of the 17 miles of the trip. Why it disengaged on the perfectly straight part of the road is a mystery. Mid-morning, bright sunshine, only moderate traffic.

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