BlueCruise v1 is a Let Down

[JSW]

I agree with your assessment. Mine rarely stays engaged for more than a few minutes before disengaging. It will re-engage after a few minutes (and so-on). I also find the “look forward” prompts to be frequent and annoyin.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the pre-bluecruise lane keeping assist - it exceeded my expectations.

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[krafty81]

I like it! So relaxing to be hands-free!

 

[HDer]

That's merely a salesperson either not doing their homework or blatantly lying.



That's a newer version of Mobileye shown as a tech preview. We have EyeQ4 which came out in 2018. EyeQ5 was introduced in 2020 and is now available on a few cars (e.g. BMW iX). EyeQ6 is in the works and not yet available. Mobileye is very incremental with their hardware/software and does not upgrade older installs. Tesla is taking a very different approach where they've tried to predict the hardware required for where they ultimately want to be and are incrementing the software stack to run on the installed base of hardware. Our cars will never be capable of more than what we have today. Hopefully they can at least improve the algorithms for a smoother experience.



FSD is far, far more ambitious with what its end goal is. If they ever get there is debatable. Blue Cruise is not behind schedule. It does exactly what it was designed to do. Although they do have a goal to also provide lane changing (driver must activate with a turn signal) and automatic speed reduction for road curves (Tesla Autopilot already does this). Ford's own press releases on Blue Cruise call it a Level 2 system and compare to Tesla's Autopilot with no mention of FSD (promoted by Tesla to reach Level 5).


As for what we get with Blue Cruise, I find it very lacking. My experience with it is that it is very much a reactive system with no predictive abilities. How people enjoy it in stop and go traffic, I cannot comprehend. It does not seem to calculate the relative acceleration of your car and the one in front of you resulting in very jerky motion. The few times I've tried it in stop and go, I thought I'd get whiplash. It keeps accelerating (it has a delay accelerating after traffic stops) to catch the gap for the car in front despite the car in front already braking again, causing the Mach E to slam on its brakes. Lane centering seems to be based on the immediate sides of the car with no attempts to look forward and create more gentle adjustments. I think this is part of what can get it in to the ping pong effect since it starts to over compensate based on position rather than choose a path to straighten out.

You're probably right, but I hope you're wrong and we get something closer to autonomous driving than what we have now. Because otherwise, it's going to be a feature that's of limited utility to me personally, especially because Lane Keep Assist seems to be working pretty well.

 

[fokkerlit]

Mine has worked really well for me. I use it on the Mass Pike going to work and back most days, frequent 150 mile round trips to NH and back, and used it on a 220 mile round trip this weekend. I find it hugs the lane marking on the passenger side of the vehicle more than I would like it to, but other than that it rarely turns off except areas where the lane markings disappear due to roadwork. I've had other vehicles with adaptive cruise systems and this one works better than those did. If the Blazer SS pans out I may get to try GM's Supercruise in the next couple years too...

What do you set your speed to when you're on the pike?

 

[EV Lab]

In case anyone is trying to make a decision on the Tech package like we did.

When we first ordered our Mach-E, we were trying to decide whether or not to get the Tech package. We ultimately got the Rt1 which had it included. A big part of it was because of BlueCruise. It wasn't due to the "park assist" I'll tell you that. Given the equivalent FSD mode on Teslas cost 10K we thought it was a good investment.

Fast forward a year and we finally have BlueCruise installed by the dealer. They insisted when we took it in for the windshield recall.

And... it kind of sucks.

The main problem with BlueCruise is that it goes in and out, without seemingly much rhyme or reason. Maybe the lane lines aren't marked completely clearly in one section or there's a slight blip in GPS coordinates. Whatever the case, I don't think I've had a BlueCruise session on for longer than 3-5 minutes. And this is in the SF Bay Area where presumably they've been doing testing for years and years now.

The other problem with it is that I really haven't noticed any functional differences between it and the Lane Keep Assist feature. Yes it lane centers and does adaptive cruise control just like Lane Keep Assist, but it has the same foibles, including sometimes getting too close to the outside lane line, taking (subjectively) the less safe line on turns, not leaving enough space for cars merging into my lane, etc. For such a big name and marketing change the differences in the actual brains of the feature, if any, are incredibly subtle.

Add to that the fact that it's highway only, no lane changing, no easy way to see in car what parts of a trip are BlueCruise enabled, and it just seems to be a really half baked feature that maximum allows me to take my hands off the steering wheel for a couple of minutes at a time.

Hopefully it gets better over time, but if I were to make the choice all over again, I would definitely skip BlueCruise.

TL;DR: BlueCruise turns off too frequently, adds almost nothing to Lane Keep Assist, and is nowhere close to Tesla's FSD.

I completely agree with your feedback. I use adaptive cruise control all the time, so Bluecruise will be used, but I treat it more like just plain old cruise control. I never take my hands off the wheel as I don't like how it randomly switches back to just adaptive cruise or ping pongs side-to-side in the lane. Thankfully we didn't pay much for it, but when the software subscription comes, I'll probably not get it.

 

[Logal727]

No issues here, I do not see the complaints everyone says, not that they aren’t happening, it’s just mine does not do them. It’s been a great feature so far.

 

[alexgorod]

Does it stay in this mode (blue background, hands free) the whole time?

On the highways around me, it switches to this mode (with the blue bubble around the car) quite often, which is the Lane Keep Assist/hands on mode. Sorry for the blurry picture.

Somewhat confusingly, once the car has the BlueCruise upgrade, both are called BlueCruise, although clearly the bottom one requires you to keep your hand on the steering wheel whereas the top one is "true" hands free BlueCruise.

I don't think Hands-free works over 80 mph, at least that was my experience.

 

[RickMachE]

I don't think Hands-free works over 80 mph, at least that was my experience.

It does not. That's a great example of not understanding the technology. Good catch!

 

[RickMachE]

Does it stay in this mode (blue background, hands free) the whole time?

On the highways around me, it switches to this mode (with the blue bubble around the car) quite often, which is the Lane Keep Assist/hands on mode. Sorry for the blurry picture.

Somewhat confusingly, once the car has the BlueCruise upgrade, both are called BlueCruise, although clearly the bottom one requires you to keep your hand on the steering wheel whereas the top one is "true" hands free BlueCruise.

NOTE THE SPEED. You cannot use BlueCruise over 80mph. You're doing 83. Therefore, it's disengaged as it is designed to do. This is 100% you not understanding the technology.

 

[Mirak]

1. BlueCruise just adds hands-free to the existing ACC and LC tech within certain geofenced divided highways. There is zero indication from Ford or independent user testing that BC actually enhances the accuracy of the LC.
2. Ford’s driver assistance tech is better in some ways than Tesla Autopilot, worse in others. Autopilot comes included, whereas BC is a $600 three-year subscription. BC allows truly hands free driving on certain roads - Autopilot doesn’t (though it’s pretty easy to hack). The jury is out as to whether Ford’s ACC/LC or Tesla Autopilot is more accurate. Autopilot lacks a number of basic safety features included by Ford, like cross-traffic backup warnings and 360 cam.
3. I’ve not observed any significant ping-ponging with the Ford tech.
4. Given Ford’s myriad software difficulties just deploying BC and other meaningful enhancements, I would NOT bank on getting any meaningful enhancements to BC - like lane changes - in the next couple of years. We don’t even know for certain that such new features will even operate with existing hardware.

Bottom line, I love my Mach E but Ford is light years behind Tesla on software and at this point I’m not banking on any more significant software updates for current builds. Ford is already abandoning SYNC and moving to an Android OS.

 

[Socalsp3]

it's highly dependent on what road you use. some roads works well some not at all. on socal freeways it would not work for more than a minute for me. id rather not play patty cake with the car and end up just keeping my hands on. the hyundai hda is more reliable and lane centering can be used on city roads

 

[gpgrim]

In case anyone is trying to make a decision on the Tech package like we did.

When we first ordered our Mach-E, we were trying to decide whether or not to get the Tech package. We ultimately got the Rt1 which had it included. A big part of it was because of BlueCruise. It wasn't due to the "park assist" I'll tell you that. Given the equivalent FSD mode on Teslas cost 10K we thought it was a good investment.

Fast forward a year and we finally have BlueCruise installed by the dealer. They insisted when we took it in for the windshield recall.

And... it kind of sucks.

The main problem with BlueCruise is that it goes in and out, without seemingly much rhyme or reason. Maybe the lane lines aren't marked completely clearly in one section or there's a slight blip in GPS coordinates. Whatever the case, I don't think I've had a BlueCruise session on for longer than 3-5 minutes. And this is in the SF Bay Area where presumably they've been doing testing for years and years now.

By BlueCruise, I presume you mean "hands free" BlueCruise. As for it going on and off, it can do this for a variety of reasons, including not being on an authorized section of highway, or if the sensors cannot find the lane center say due conditions.

I've spent a fair number of hours roaming San José on I680 and US 101 and have used hands free on all stretches, from Pleasnton to SJ and from SJ to Gilroy. Heading east on I580 towards Livermore in the morning, I will lose "hands free" if the sun is low in the sky.

Where are you driving that it seems to go in and out?

 

[HDer]

NOTE THE SPEED. You cannot use BlueCruise over 80mph. You're doing 83. Therefore, it's disengaged as it is designed to do. This is 100% you not understanding the technology.

This isn't my picture, just some random one I found on the internet. I'm not confident enough in the tech to be taking pictures while driving. The 80mph cap is good to know about though.

 

[HDer]

By BlueCruise, I presume you mean "hands free" BlueCruise. As for it going on and off, it can do this for a variety of reasons, including not being on an authorized section of highway, or if the sensors cannot find the lane center say due conditions.

I've spent a fair number of hours roaming San José on I680 and US 101 and have used hands free on all stretches, from Pleasnton to SJ and from SJ to Gilroy. Heading east on I580 towards Livermore in the morning, I will lose "hands free" if the sun is low in the sky.

Where are you driving that it seems to go in and out?

Yes hands free BlueCruise. I know once my car is upgraded it calls all adaptive cruise control/lane keeping BlueCruise, but when I say BlueCruise I mean the hands free version.

I drive on 280, 101, 880, and some other highways in the area.

 

[RyZt]

Subaru EyeSight I believe is also hands-free. Hyundai/Kia's systems are very close to being hands free to me because they rarely nag

Subaru and Hyundai/Kia are not hands free. It sounds like you’re saying that the cars’ hand detection is broken. The system is supposed to nag you but didn’t. That sounds a like a safety problem that needs to be fixed.

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