Ford BlueCruise OTA rollout delayed until Q1 2022

[benk016]

Well this is certainly a different data point that @DevSecOps. Thanks.

I do think it would be a good thing if you got like a trial of the feature before having to choose if you want to purchase it. I do like the model they moved to on the new cars having the first 3 years built into the price of the car. Give users like an hour of the feature active to see if its something you would use before committing to 3 years. Or even a 1 month trial, something.

I can see it being frustrating if you don't know if its even available on any roads near you, or if you pay and then decide its not something you'd want to use.

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[DonE]

There are 2 parts to UX... 1. The Car with which you interact 2. With the App thru which u interact with car.

I am happy with the car and what it has to offer. I am looking forward to BC but can wait. However, the App sucks which annoys me at the most at the moment.

They have to seriously upgrade and update...

 

[DevSecOps]

Well this is certainly a different data point that @DevSecOps. Thanks.

There's a acronym that many use on here ... YMMV. Ben is in Oklahoma and I'm in California. The roads could be vastly different and his millage may vary in a better way than mine. My main issues are with overpass expansion joints and corners and the way the system notifies you when it disengages. We don't have many roads in California that are straight shots for a long time. 99 and I5 through central California are probably the best examples, but both of those have terrible expansion joints that ping-pong the car all over. So while Ben has to dodge tornadoes we have to dodge earthquake expansion joints.

Like Ben, I've said that LC is more, I think I said, pronounced. It's definitely better, but it has to be. It's controlling the car where LC is more of a guide while you still have control.

I appreciate Ben's take and we all hope the BC will get deployed soon to everyone and that it will improve over time!

 

[back_at_it_19]

Ford had an impressive 3Q 2021 and Jim Farley also says rollout of BlueCruise pushed back to 1Q 2022.

Separately, Farley on Wednesday said Ford would delay an over-the-air rollout of its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system from this year until the first quarter of next year. He said the delay is to simplify the technology, which is viewed as a new recurring revenue opportunity and a way for Ford to catch up with other systems from competitors such as GM and Tesla.

Ford shatters Wall Street’s earnings expectations, raises guidance for the year on new vehicle demand

DETROIT — Ford Motor nearly doubled Wall Street’s earnings expectations and slightly beat revenue projections for the third quarter, leading the automaker to increase its annual guidance for the second time this year.

Here’s how Ford performed versus what Wall Street expected based on average analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.

• Adjusted EPS: 51 cents per share adjusted vs. 27 cents per share expected
• Automotive revenue: $33.21 billion vs. $32.54 billion expected
• Ford’s shares jumped by more than 9% during after-hours trading. The stock closed Wednesday down by 2.7% to $15.51 a share.

‘More to come’
Ford cited strong demand for newer products such as the Bronco SUV and Mustang Mach-E, which the company said could reach 200,000 units in sales globally a year.
“I believe we have the right plan to drive growth and unlock unprecedented value,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told investors Wednesday during a call. “You’re already seeing favorable change in the slope of our earnings and cash flow. There’s more to come.”

Thank you for the reliable updates as usual!

 

[milepost1]

Instead of sending me a notice that Blue Cruise is coming soon!!! They could have sent a notice, i know you have been waiting, and i know new cars have BC installed, but our OTA is not working, sorry you bought early but you will still need to wait. However if you do need a software update, take to dealer and will take 5 or 6 hours, unless the battery goes dead.

 

[SilverBullet]

Sounds like they are continuing to improve it. I'm happy to wait another couple of months. Of course I'm happy to wait because I'm still waiting for the car.

Not sure what improvement they’re referencing, but got my GT a month ago and have been using the blue cruise and it works great!

 

[DevSecOps]

Not sure what improvement they’re referencing, but got my GT a month ago and have been using the blue cruise and it works great!

Works great is very subjective. Works great compared to? I drive 2k miles a month and have used ACC/LC systems for 10 years and I don't think it works great compared to them. I don't think it works great compared to Autopilot. The BlueCruise excitement is equatable to my 90yo grandmother getting her first smartphone. Even Sandy Munro, who's pension is based on Ford's success, had to bite his lip and said it needs help.

90% of my drive is on non-BC enabled roads and you know what BC has given me? It's given me another annoyance because now I have an eyeball nanny that those without BC don't have. We still have the hand-nanny as well on non-BC roads, so we have double the "attentiveness checks/annoyances" over those without BC. So we gained an annoyance, with nothing in return on those roads.

I know a lot of people probably dislike my take on BC, but I feel it needs a lot of help. Having your hands off the wheel isn't much of a benefit on 2% (100k/4.09m) of US roadways. In Nevada, BC won't even go the speed limit for 50% of the BC enabled roads because at 80mph it cuts off.

On this forum most people are very pro-MME, understandably so. Don't get me wrong, I like the car a lot, but I'm honest about where it falls short. If we all tell Ford that BC is awesome they will never improve, we have to be honest about it's shortcomings. If you look on Reddit or other places you'll see how BC is a laughing stock. We can't sit idle and say "It's amazing over traditional cruise control" because that would hold them to the standard 10 years ago. We have to compare to modern standards and technologies to which BC is falling way short of that.

 

[benk016]

90% of my drive is on non-BC enabled roads and you know what BC has given me? It's given me another annoyance because now I have an eyeball nanny that those without BC don't have. We still have the hand-nanny as well on non-BC roads, so we have double the "attentiveness checks/annoyances" over those without BC. So we gained an annoyance, with nothing in return on those roads.

That was definitely something I wasn't expecting to happen. I've noticed that one of my typical ways I sit in the car blocks the camera from seeing my eyes reliably. If I have my elbow on the door frame, and kind of rest my hand on my face, like a thinking pose kind of, the system starts complaining to watch the road even though I'm staring straight ahead. And this happens on any roads.

 

[benk016]

Works great is very subjective. Works great compared to? I drive 2k miles a month and have used ACC/LC systems for 10 years and I don't think it works great compared to them. I don't think it works great compared to Autopilot. The BlueCruise excitement is equatable to my 90yo grandmother getting her first smartphone. Even Sandy Munro, who's pension is based on Ford's success, had to bite his lip and said it needs help.

I do think it probably is dependent on the road that you are on as well.

One day using it just getting on a toll road for one exit, I noticed a condition where it wouldn't engage. I got on the road, and there was a semi in the left lane and a car in front of me in the right. It seemed like that was enough to not let it get a good lock on the location on the road vs the built in LIDAR maps, and wouldn't activate until I got away from those cars and it could see all of the road. As soon as I got clear of those it engaged normally.

Another note is that the highway I used it on last weekend was a major toll road in Oklahoma. 75mph the whole way and fairly straight. And traffic tends to be pretty light as well. It handled all curves fine and never got any ping ponging happening which I do get with just regular Lane Centering. Oklahoma vs California is definitely a big difference in roads. I imagine you're dealing with a ton more traffic, and probably more than 2 lanes of traffic in each direction. It just adds in more complexity than I would experience here.

I definitely don't think its perfect. I'm just going to think of this as version 1.0 of this feature, and look forward to what they do with it in the coming years.

 

[RickMachE]

I think it's a bit silly to compare BlueCruise and some of the other technologies out there, simply based on cost. Doesn't Tesla charge $10,000? BlueCruise software is $600. Hardware just for it I'm not sure of the cost as it's intertwined with other stuff, and maybe different on the F-150 vs. the Mach-E. Let's call it $2,000 total. $2k vs. $10k. If the $10k isn't 5 times better, than Tesla owners are getting ripped off.

I want my Intelligent Cruise with no hands. That's it. I have no plans to have a party in the backseat, nor take a nap.

 

[DevSecOps]

That was definitely something I wasn't expecting to happen. I've noticed that one of my typical ways I sit in the car blocks the camera from seeing my eyes reliably. If I have my elbow on the door frame, and kind of rest my hand on my face, like a thinking pose kind of, the system starts complaining to watch the road even though I'm staring straight ahead. And this happens on any roads.

Yeah I mentioned this in my initial review of BC. You can't cover your mouth or cheek in any way. A mask will also prevent BC from working. Actually, a mask will prevent any form of cruise with the eye nanny.

 

[DevSecOps]

I think it's a bit silly to compare BlueCruise and some of the other technologies out there, simply based on cost. Doesn't Tesla charge $10,000? BlueCruise software is $600. Hardware just for it I'm not sure of the cost as it's intertwined with other stuff, and maybe different on the F-150 vs. the Mach-E. Let's call it $2,000 total. $2k vs. $10k. If the $10k isn't 5 times better, than Tesla owners are getting ripped off.

I want my Intelligent Cruise with no hands. That's it. I have no plans to have a party in the backseat, nor take a nap.

I think it's perfectly acceptable to compare BC to autopilot. Comparing it to FSD, I have never done and won't do. I do think that Ford and every mfg should be aiming at FSD but that's not what I expected with BC. Looking at anything else would be a technological failure. The 10k you're taking about is for FSD.

If you want ACC/LC with no hands, that's exactly what you'll get on 2% of US roads until there's a corner ?

 

[Eric_C_Boston]

Given how slow the large size Power-Up 1.7.1 update has been going, I wonder if part of the delay is so Ford can improve and speed up the OTA process. I would think the size of BlueCruise is much bigger than the 1.7.1 update. It may take a couple of months to update a car given the current rate. I have gotten pieces of the 1.7.1 update over the last two weeks and it has not finished yet.

 

[Magnitude]

This is good. even the adaptive cruising needs a few tweaks. especially when driving directly at the sun on sundown, the system sometimes just doesnt act the same. its weird.

 

[Jimrpa]

Works great is very subjective. Works great compared to? I drive 2k miles a month and have used ACC/LC systems for 10 years and I don't think it works great compared to them. I don't think it works great compared to Autopilot. The BlueCruise excitement is equatable to my 90yo grandmother getting her first smartphone. Even Sandy Munro, who's pension is based on Ford's success, had to bite his lip and said it needs help.

90% of my drive is on non-BC enabled roads and you know what BC has given me? It's given me another annoyance because now I have an eyeball nanny that those without BC don't have. We still have the hand-nanny as well on non-BC roads, so we have double the "attentiveness checks/annoyances" over those without BC. So we gained an annoyance, with nothing in return on those roads.

I know a lot of people probably dislike my take on BC, but I feel it needs a lot of help. Having your hands off the wheel isn't much of a benefit on 2% (100k/4.09m) of US roadways. In Nevada, BC won't even go the speed limit for 50% of the BC enabled roads because at 80mph it cuts off.

On this forum most people are very pro-MME, understandably so. Don't get me wrong, I like the car a lot, but I'm honest about where it falls short. If we all tell Ford that BC is awesome they will never improve, we have to be honest about it's shortcomings. If you look on Reddit or other places you'll see how BC is a laughing stock. We can't sit idle and say "It's amazing over traditional cruise control" because that would hold them to the standard 10 years ago. We have to compare to modern standards and technologies to which BC is falling way short of that.

You make good points. That said, Ford did say that I'd get BlueCruise later in 20210 (then 2021) when I initially purchased my car. I get that there are going to be delays, but I'd appreciate it if Ford would notify me if they're going to slip their dates. Also, I totally understand that early versions of software will not be very mature. I can be tolerant of that, as long as Ford is really committed to improving the software over time and deploying those improvements.

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