BlueCruise Easily Fooled

LVMike

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We were driving north at 70mph on I-15 through Las Vegas (by Strip) last evening and set the BlueCruise. All was great until we got past Tropicana. Apparently, some dumbass had recently driven in this lane and dumped a 3-mile long spill of white paint. It was very subtle, but got more noticeable as we kept going.

They must have either been in a hurry or very drunk. I say this because at one point, the paint line severely turned to the left. We were fine until we reached that point, and the car nearly drove us right into the Jersey wall highway divider.
Full collision warnings, lights, buzzers, etc.
I have always kept my hands and attention “on guard” while BlueCruise driving, but this really shocked and scared me. It really scared the crap out of everyone else in the car.

I now know a few things;

1. If going north through Las Vegas, don’t drive with BlueCruise on while in the carpool lane, at least not in the near future. The paint should eventually fade.

2. I had thought that streets were “pre-mapped” to be part of BlueCruise, which meant they don’t just rely on cameras on the car. That’s clearly not true, and you really should not trust this system yet.

3. (ATTN: FORD) I now wish there was a place to post alerts in real time to warn other BlueCruise drivers regarding active road hazards, such as paint spills that could wreck your car.

I really want to trust self-driving systems, but they just aren’t ready for prime-time yet. Please be safe and don’t ever take your hands off the wheel.
I understand that many of you on this forum will disagree with me, but only until a scare like this happens to you.

IF YOU HAVE TO USE BC, PLEASE STAY ON GUARD AT ALL TIMES!
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RickMachE

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#2 - that is an incorrect understanding. If there are no painted lines, BlueCruise doesn't work.

We drove on a road where the dashed lines were at an angle. Each line was say 11 O'Clock to 5 O'Clock. No idea how they did that.

On a mapped road, if they pave over or paint the lines on one side of the lane, BlueCruise will not function.
 

StillWaitingForMachE

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Would spilled paint like that confuse the lane keep feature of even an older car without blue cruise? Never had a car with lane keep, so I'm curious.
 

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All I think BC uses the map for is BC yes/no.

e.g. BC checks the map: "am I on a BC road? Yup its I-80". I've seen where BC will not engage when the car thinks its 100 yards to the left.

I believe all that driving Ford did "testing BC" was to set the flags on the map: "Yup we've driven here and BC works good set the map to yes".
 

Fixbear

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Yes it will. We have a intersection here that has a slight curve right westbound. The car always wants to go into the oncoming lane.
 


StillWaitingForMachE

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Yes it will. We have a intersection here that has a slight curve right westbound. The car always wants to go into the oncoming lane.
Sorry... was this a response to my question about Lane Keep, or was this talking about Blue Cruise?
 

RickMachE

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None of this has anything to do handsfree driving, it's all lane keeping, which requires lines on both sides of the lines. Make crappy lines, and the car won't be happy. Paint them heading you towards the bridge abutment, and that's where you are headed. Paint over or pave over them, and it won't work at all.

So many people really don't understand these features and their limitations.
 
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LVMike

LVMike

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#2 - that is an incorrect understanding. If there are no painted lines, BlueCruise doesn't work.

We drove on a road where the dashed lines were at an angle. Each line was say 11 O'Clock to 5 O'Clock. No idea how they did that.

On a mapped road, if they pave over or paint the lines on one side of the lane, BlueCruise will not function.
Oh, there are very clearly painted lines, plus those imbedded reflectors about every 4-5 feet apart. There is no mistaking the alignment of this 2-year old roadway. It’s just that there was the extra line in the middle of the lane from some careless painter.
 
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LVMike

LVMike

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None of this has anything to do handsfree driving, it's all lane keeping, which requires lines on both sides of the lines. Make crappy lines, and the car won't be happy. Paint them heading you towards the bridge abutment, and that's where you are headed. Paint over or pave over them, and it won't work at all.

So many people really don't understand these features and their limitations.
Again, both sides of the road lane were painted and provided with reflectors.
I’m an engineer friend, I understand more about this tech than most. Reserve your personal judgement for others , please.
 
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LVMike

LVMike

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Would spilled paint like that confuse the lane keep feature of even an older car without blue cruise? Never had a car with lane keep, so I'm curious.
Not sure. A few years ago, I had a Lincoln MKZ with lane-keep, but I never had an issue like this. Of course, that feature made you keep your hands on the wheel at all times, so I was never even mildly off my guard. The expectation of BC is to keep at the ready, but this means different things to different folks.
I’m not saying don’t use BC, I’m just saying don’t relax your attention too much since it was easily fooled here and not as not as reliable as one might think.
 

Fixbear

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Sorry... was this a response to my question about Lane Keep, or was this talking about Blue Cruise?
lane keep. If you can't trust lane keep, you sure can't trust something more complicated.
 

RickMachE

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Oh, there are very clearly painted lines, plus those imbedded reflectors about every 4-5 feet apart. There is no mistaking the alignment of this 2-year old roadway. It’s just that there was the extra line in the middle of the lane from some careless painter.
And the car followed it as it is designed to do.
 

RickMachE

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Again, both sides of the road lane were painted and provided with reflectors.
I’m an engineer friend, I understand more about this tech than most. Reserve your personal judgement for others , please.
It has nothing to do with handsfree driving.
 

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I've also had issues with "phantom" markings. For example there's some milled areas on roads where lines used to be painted it picks up and yanks the wheel for a half second driving past.

The camera seems to identify lines based on highest contrast, so if you have a marking that is much brighter or darker than the road it will lock on and try to follow it. Even if it's not yellow or white.

There is a similar issue with real markings used in construction zones. During sharp lane shifts BlueCruise will still try to follow the lines. It will literally throw you right off the road if you aren't paying attention and don't have a firm hand on the wheel.

From an engineering standpoint, I think Ford needs to apply a rate limit on the allowed steering inputs. If the lane marking has too great of a departure angle from the travel direction which would result in a very fast steering input, the system needs to stop and say take over immediately rather than try to take the line like a frenzied teenager. Some tweaking needs to happen there for increased safety. I'm prepared for it while driving, but a slow-reacting driver may not.
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