Dumping BlueCruise

[MadMatt]

Superior because you don’t like the eye nanny?

The ACC and LC functionality is exactly the same whether using BC Hands Free or Hands On.

I would agree that Hands On is a superior price, but that’s about it.

the eye nanny still exists. I say superior because it keeps me partially engaged as a driver. I can't stand sitting in the drivers seat not touching the wheel and not able to do anything else. To my point, if the system isn't trustworthy enough to allow me to takes my eyes off the road, I am essentially a ford employee doing trial testing of their software. they should be paying me.

(its also annoying that the steering wheel sensor isn't sensitive enough. I often get the notification that my hand isn't on the wheel even though it is.)

As much as I'm not a current fan of his, Elon said it best. Statistically these aids are safer than relying on the general public alone, however people inevitable wanting to check their phone end up disabling them because of the in vehicle harassment.

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[SonicBlue]

the eye nanny still exists. I say superior because it keeps me partially engaged as a driver. I can't stand sitting in the drivers seat not touching the wheel and not able to do anything else. To my point, if the system isn't trustworthy enough to allow me to takes my eyes off the road, I am essentially a ford employee doing trial testing of their software. they should be paying me.

Yeah, I get that. Some people definitely appear to be more comfortable - physically comfortable - resting a hand on the wheel. Not me.

From the pictures when BC was first advertised, I thought sitting with hands in your lap or on the armrests looked goofy as hell and pointless. But after many long highway drives, even shorter drives, I’ve come to realize that not having to grip the wheel, even lightly, is much less fatiguing.

I also find that my attention level is actually higher when driving hands free. Staying alert keeps me feeling fresher and avoiding that tired feeling induced by road hypnosis.

But that may not be the same for everyone.

 

[SonicBlue]

Oh i agree 100%, part of my point is there is a time and a place to be partially distracted. In other words, driving on an open highway with these aids enabled, not another car around, no crossing intersection, no tree-line where animals could run out... These situations are pretty common. I can afford to be slightly distracted.

I despise being treated like a child in my own vehicle. Either give me the tech to work with or don't. I'm an adult, I can decided when and how I'll use it.

I hear you on this, also. As a general rule, I don’t like being treated like a child. But I would kinda love it from a safety standpoint if everyone else had an eye nanny, too. We’ve all had those close calls with another distracted driver.

 

[MadMatt]

I also find that my attention level is actually higher when driving hands free. Staying alert keeps me feeling fresher and avoiding that tired feeling induced by road hypnosis.

I agree that you'll stay more comfortable being able to rest your arms. And you nailed it on the head with this comment. The problem is, the current system forces you to have that forward gaze as you mentioned, and the partial fear that the system will disconnect at any moment.

in the end i do think these systems are great. I guess my issue is the price they are charging considering the driver implication. As i said earlier, they should be paying us.

It should be free, and there should be a reward program to submit audio bugs to help encourage use and development. Charging absurd fee's for a work in progress... nah...

 

[voxel]

(its also annoying that the steering wheel sensor isn't sensitive enough. I often get the notification that my hand isn't on the wheel even though it is.)

I prefer the haptic steering wheel systems used by Hyundai/Kia/VW instead of what Ford (which just copied Tesla again) did. Just resting your hand on the wheel tells the ADAS you are paying attention. I also get the annoying "hands on the wheel" warning even though my hands are definitely on the wheel.

 

[Zardoz]

My 3-yr BC deal ends in June '26. I saw an offer in the Connected Services area of the FordPass app to add one more year for $0. I signed up already. You may want to look for this.

Beyond that - adaptive cruise control is fantastic without the hands-free BC feature. I see no need to pay much (if at all) for the ability to take my hands off the wheel.

I have seen people mention the +1yr free offer, but I'm not close to the expiration of my BC. I have a 2022 and complained a lot about my broken BC during an update fiasco. Got a couple months extension for my trouble. It was a lot of emailing back and forth. So I have about a year left, but I have the 1 year extension offer for $0!

Thank you for mentioning your experience!

 

[Zardoz]

I prefer the haptic steering wheel systems used by Hyundai/Kia/VW instead of what Ford (which just copied Tesla again) did. Just resting your hand on the wheel tells the ADAS you are paying attention. I also get the annoying "hands on the wheel" warning even though my hands are definitely on the wheel.

This is why the weight option is ALMOST tempting. I appreciate and use BC when possible but have a healthy fear of it too... I do not mind having my hands on the wheel or inches from the wheel all the time. Hell, I've had to steer for most of my driving life. When on two lane roads BC hugs the center too much for my tastes, so I'm pulling to the right most of the time anyway. I (mosly) trust BC to keep me in my lane and at a safe speed through corners but I trust other drivers far less. When there is little traffic and I'm not pulling the wheel to the right I (and my wife) would prefer it not beep all the time warning to have hands on the wheel when both have been there, and haven't left, for the past 5 warnings... BC does too good of a job to have torque be the hands on wheel indicator.

EDIT: To be clear, I would NOT install a weight to cheat the system and make it hands-free. I don't trust it that much. I'm tempted only to avoid false hands-on-wheel alarms.

 

[awp0]

Here's how I get BlueCruise on all roads for free, well minus the $10 to purchase it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1RJ976

Already prepared for virtue signalers and safety experts to chime in, so pre-emptively ignoring this thread.

On the contrary, I'd love it if someone outlined the safety concerns with a device like this.

There's zero chance I'm paying Ford the current price for BC. Maybe if they reduce it back to the cost when I bought the car ($200/yr), but not at the current price. I'm not entertaining these bait-and-switch tactics where Ford communicated $200/yr when I bought the car and then one day decided to jack the price to 400% of the original cost, and then eventually reduced it by like 35% when no one was biting.

 

[Canafordian]

If they have to charge for it and assuming they use the money to maintain/expand BC zones maybe they'd be better off charging 'per use'.

Every 10K km (6K mi) $150usd up to 30K km/18K mi (max of $450). So folks that use it lightly can get in at a price that isn't nuts and only heavy users that really see the value (or have the cash) go all in.

I have no idea what it takes to maintain BC so maybe it should just be free or 1/10 of that cost etc.

 

[Ahlarict]

If they have to charge for it and assuming they use the money to maintain/expand BC zones maybe they'd be better off charging 'per use'.

Every 10K km (6K mi) $150usd up to 30K km/18K mi (max of $450). So folks that use it lightly can get in at a price that isn't nuts and only heavy users that really see the value (or have the cash) go all in.

I have no idea what it takes to maintain BC so maybe it should just be free or 1/10 of that cost etc.

There is always a cost to R&D, testing, and support for servicing past customers over and above what it takes to develop new products, but it sure ain't $50/mo/vehicle and even if it were, with all the folks driving the older cars wondering why they're still stuck on older versions and as basic and incremental as the updates have been, it's clear Ford isn't doing much for that money...

 

[silverelan]

Ford’s renewal offer for me is nearly $500/year. No way.

 

[Ahlarict]

instead of what Ford (which just copied Tesla again) did

Ford gets a lot of grief for copying Tesla, but that endless symphony of "busted Star Wars droid sounds" whirring and clicking away in my garage all night every night is something Tesla engineers could never even aspire to.

 

[Zardoz]

Ford’s renewal offer for me is nearly $500/year. No way.

Same. Once my subscription is come to an end I will consider a monthly subscription for LONG trips. Likely not more than 1-2 times per year.

I wish they would take the development of BC as a feature of the car that sells more cars. No way the maintenance of the system justifies $500 per user per year. We already paid for the hardware. Google says there are 2.5M cars on the road that are BC capable. People hate subscriptions like this. Lets be generous and say 10% renew. 250k users x $500 = $125M/yr. That seems outrageous. $100/yr results in 25M/yr. I don't know the backend cost, but $25M seems like there is room for profit.

 

[awp0]

Same. Once my subscription is come to an end I will consider a monthly subscription for LONG trips. Likely not more than 1-2 times per year.

I wish they would take the development of BC as a feature of the car that sells more cars. No way the maintenance of the system justifies $500 per user per year. We already paid for the hardware. Google says there are 2.5M cars on the road that are BC capable. People hate subscriptions like this. Lets be generous and say 10% renew. 250k users x $500 = $125M/yr. That seems outrageous. $100/yr results in 25M/yr. I don't know the backend cost, but $25M seems like there is room for profit.

There are two options:

1) It really is the cost to maintain this system. In this case Ford was being disingenuous and unethical by telling early MME purchasers that the subscription is $200/year before quadrupling it well after 10's of thousands of purchases. These maintenance costs are fairly predictable.
2) It's just a money-grab and it actually costs much less to maintain the system. This is more likely IMHO, especially considering I've had exactly one Bluecruise improvement in my almost 3 years of ownership and no change to my local coverage maps.

Either option is a crappy look for Ford.

 

[laxwiz]

I received the update to BC 1.3 on my ‘21 Premium AWD XT just before my expiry date in February. Ford has since given me a year free to use it with the lane change feature.

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