Got Blue Cruise ... now what ???

[fpasta]

Blue Cruise was amazing for me. I tried it over the weekend at night. My car was centered all times in all lanes. Going to try it during the day this weekend same stretch of freeway. After the three years is up, should be a good enough time for me to think if it's worth the 200$/year. If I use it alot.

Just to add to this the park assist is amazing. The only one I haven't tried is perpendicular parking. I'm avoiding parking that way when there are other cars on either or both sides at all times .

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[alexgorod]

Does Hands-Free get canceled If I put my hands on the wheel during Hands-Free? Or mess it up somehow? I can't decide what I want to do with my hands now

 

[FME]

This is pretty easy to miss if you are focused on the road. I could be watching the road, with my hands off the wheel, and completely miss that they should be back on the wheel. It’s a safety issue that this is only displayed on that one screen. Alex on Autos does a great job explaining this and highlighting ways it could be better handled.

Presently, I don’t really think this is “hands free” driving. I really think you need to keep your hands on the wheel. It’s a nice cruise control system, but it’s still just cruise control. I don’t think Ford is overselling it — it’s clear that this should only be used as an aid. However, I’m looking at the price tag and thinking they really need to make some improvements if they expect people to subscribe to this in 3 years.

I guess I’m just use to scanning the instruments. Always inside and out.

I do agree there should be an audible tone when Blue Cruise disengages. Distractions happen and a warning would be prudent.

 

[Mach1E]

Does Hands-Free get canceled If I put my hands on the wheel during Hands-Free? Or mess it up somehow? I can't decide what I want to do with my hands now

No.

If you give it a “certain amount” of resistance or turn the wheel “a certain amount” it will disengage though.

Basically it lets you take over if you want. But you absolutely can let it drive and keep your hands on the wheel.

 

[AZBill]

Is it in the car? That's what I had prior to OTA

But there are a lot of people that have the date of "Hands-Free Driving Mode", but it still doesn't work. Actually, I've found only one person that also didn't have the date, so it's not a certain indication of the problem (or there are other problems that prevent Hads-Free from working)

I have had up through 2.8.3 and still have the same display in the car. On the connected services page it states Activation Pending. My lane centering is completely inoperative.

 

[krafty81]

Interesting, I’ve never seen that pop up.

Where does it say that?

You have to enable notifications. Mine works.

 

[krafty81]

The BlueCruise in my brand new Mach-E is acting in a way that I have not seen addressed. I got the prompt to turn on BlueCruise, and when I did the dashboard shows a solid blue line surrounding the car, but no blue aura around it. At the bottom of the picture of the car there is a picture of a steering wheel with hands holding it. The BlueCruise works fine, steering and speeding up and slowing down appropriately as long as my hands touch the wheel lightly. When I take my hands off, within 10 seconds I get the warning to put them back on. Does anyone know why this is happening? The divided highway is in the city, not between cities. Could that be it? The speed was set for 7 miles above the speed limit. Does that matter?

Not Blue Cruise. You may have turned off lane monitoring.

 

[krafty81]

I really wish it was a bit more explicit about what mode it is in. For something that is so new, I don’t think the existing iconography is informative/reassuring enough. I’d like something like an option for an audible “Blue Cruise activated” and “Blue Cruise Deactivated” notification. I tried to activate it a few times yesterday, but I kept disengaging it because I’d get paranoid. When it disengaged, it didn’t really seem clear to me that I had just taken control again. Considering how easy it is to disengage, I feel like that should be REALLY clear. Now I’m even more nervous to trust it.

Edit: I just watched a couple videos of people using it (including Alex on Autos), and I felt a little validated in that they complained about this same concern. It’s a safety issue that the car isn’t more clear when it disengages. However, the videos do show that it does it’s best to keep you in the lane after it disengages. I suppose that renewed my confidence a bit.

It changes color from blue to white in the daytime. Pretty obvious to me anyway...

 

[krafty81]

Does Hands-Free get canceled If I put my hands on the wheel during Hands-Free? Or mess it up somehow? I can't decide what I want to do with my hands now

No it does not. It takes your input then continues on its own when you remove your hands. I put mine on my thighs...

 

[Deleted member 3569]

Does Hands-Free get canceled If I put my hands on the wheel during Hands-Free? Or mess it up somehow? I can't decide what I want to do with my hands now

...I don't say a word ... silently I peeled off one of those gigantic Costco banana and I slurp it very very slowly ....the look of my wifey was just priceless !!! it lasted less than 10 seconds and she started to berate at me !!!

 

[Deleted member 3569]

I really wish it was a bit more explicit about what mode it is in. For something that is so new, I don’t think the existing iconography is informative/reassuring enough. I’d like something like an option for an audible “Blue Cruise activated” and “Blue Cruise Deactivated” notification. I tried to activate it a few times yesterday, but I kept disengaging it because I’d get paranoid. When it disengaged, it didn’t really seem clear to me that I had just taken control again. Considering how easy it is to disengage, I feel like that should be REALLY clear. Now I’m even more nervous to trust it.

Edit: I just watched a couple videos of people using it (including Alex on Autos), and I felt a little validated in that they complained about this same concern. It’s a safety issue that the car isn’t more clear when it disengages. However, the videos do show that it does it’s best to keep you in the lane after it disengages. I suppose that renewed my confidence a bit.

I appreciate what you are saying, initially my blueCruise was abrupt and coarse ... but since the OTA update to v.2.8.3 things got a lot better and smoother. My blueCruise was activated at v. 2.8.2.

 

[Progress]

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/so-when-is-blue-cruise-not-blue-cruise.15710/post-426367

I'd recommend to open a ticket with Ford (by asking @Ford Motor Company ) so they can push the OTA to your car. At least that's what I think triggered the OTA for mine.

This morning I just received notification from Ford that a successful OTA update was performed on my car that gave me 130,000 miles of mapped highways for BlueCruise! Now the blue bubble surrounds the icon and full hands free driving is enabled! I don't know whether this was a scheduled update or if my salesperson initiated it after I left her a message. I also don't know what the official number of this update is, but now my BlueCruise works like a charm.

 

[andrew]

Okay, I take back some of what I was saying about Blue Cruise. I spent a lot more time with it yesterday, and I now feel a lot more comfortable with it.

The transition between Blue Cruise & Lane Centering + Adaptive Cruise Control is easy to miss, but this isn’t a dealbreaker. The car is basically still driving itself in the latter mode — so I feel okay with this transition. When the car really needs you to take over, it does alert you with an audible tone. I’d love to see this emphasized more, but I can live with it as is.

I would like to see some more drive style customization available in the settings. I’d like an option to slow down sooner when cars ahead are coming to a stop — approaching stopped traffic is terrifying right now. I’d also like an option to hug the opposite side of a lane when passing a car. This is something I naturally do, so it feels odd when Blue Cruise stays centered.

I think I’ll be using this a lot. It’s really nice in traffic, and I appreciate that it keeps my speed in check when there isn’t traffic. It does make me miss driving though

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