Coming soon: BlueCruise 1.3

[RickMachE]

During the time we've been waiting, NASA did this:

NASA Just Sent an OTA Software Update to a 47-Year-Old Spacecraft

And Ford will too, in 47 years...

Sponsored

 

[Stevey]

Let’s take a 30,000-foot view of this. First, Ford is asking for a lot of money ($800/year) that no one or very few people are going to take advantage of. Next, BC functionality is limited to previously map / approved highways. While there is a lot of coverage in some areas there are thousands of miles that are not covered.

And let’s be honest, traveling in an EV adds a minimum of 30% to the time it takes to travel, and can be an exercise in anger management and frustration (not Ford’s fault). That will improve with access to the Supercharging network but will still require 40 minutes to go from 10% to 80% for only another 3.5 hours of driving time. In addition, the ability to improve on that is so cumbersome to use, it really isn’t functional, and yes, I am talking preconditioning. You need to add the charging stop in Ford’s nav system to utilize it, but how do you do that while driving. Ford’s safety nanny prevents you from using the “Public Charging” app while in motion. And yes, you can mitigate a lot by pre-planning, but that introduces additional time and has its own set of challenges.

So, if you were Ford, what would you place your research dollars on? A feature that will never earn you the margin you hoped for or something else that will sell more cars. Example, look how fast they got Supercharging working. Bottom line, I’ll be great full once it is released, but I don’t expect it any time soon.

 

[azerik]

When you demo BC to your friends they all say that is cool. When you tell them the new price they all say that's a no go. Not so cool after price is discovered. I would like to see a flow chart after everyone 3 years is up on people who still have BC. I bet it will be a big drop off crash.

I paid... $600/3yrs. Not sure I'd pay anywhere near $400 a year.

 

[generaltso]

I paid... $600/3yrs. Not sure I'd pay anywhere near $400 a year.

But would you pay $800 a year?

 

[azerik]

But would you pay $800 a year?

 

[Space_Pony]

But would you pay $800 a year?

I think he's holding out for the $801/yr plan.

 

[Mirak]

So, if you were Ford, what would you place your research dollars on? A feature that will never earn you the margin you hoped for or something else that will sell more cars. Example, look how fast they got Supercharging working. Bottom line, I’ll be great full once it is released, but I don’t expect it any time soon.

BC will roll out on many models. Not just the Mach E. Not even necessarily just on EVs. So claiming that EV road tripping aggravations (very true) counteract the benefits of BC doesn’t really hold up.

Likewise, while I agree that $800/yr is stupid pricing, I fully expect Ford to run periodic “sales” to increase the take rate. That’s if the advertised pricing holds up at all.

Bottom line: Level 2+ ADAS is an important and potentially highly profitable service. Frankly, it has a much higher profit potential than most other software ideas. So it makes sense for Ford to keep improving it and deploying it. It’s just the pricing that is dumb, and the broken OTA deployment.

 

[Stevey]

BC will roll out on many models. Not just the Mach E. Not even necessarily just on EVs. So claiming that EV road tripping aggravations (very true) counteract the benefits of BC doesn’t really hold up.

Likewise, while I agree that $800/yr is stupid pricing, I fully expect Ford to run periodic “sales” to increase the take rate. That’s if the advertised pricing holds up at all.

Bottom line: Level 2+ ADAS is an important and potentially highly profitable service. Frankly, it has a much higher profit potential than most other software ideas. So it makes sense for Ford to keep improving it and deploying it. It’s just the pricing that is dumb, and the broken OTA deployment.

I couldn't agree more. I was focusing specifically on "Coming Soon" for the Mach E as it relates to the short term priorities.

 

[available_username2]

so excited this is coming soon. How soon we thinking?

 

[generaltso]

so excited this is coming soon. How soon we thinking?

Summer of 2023

 

[azerik]

Summer of 2023

Is that soon? Have we started moving time backwards yet? If so I can't wait to be 28 again.

 

[JCHLi]

It's coming?

Sponsored