How exactly does the BlueCruise work on GT Performance Edition?

[AR Mach E GT]

I received my car about a month ago; barely drive it but I still don’t know how to function all of its features. How exactly does the Blue Cruise work on GT Performance

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[DevSecOps]

I received my car about a month ago; barely drive it but I still don’t know how to function all of its features. How exactly does the Blue Cruise work on GT Performance

I'm going to go out on a limb and pretend like your question isn't hitting 1000 on the troll-o-meter.

There's a ton of videos and reviews on BlueCruise throughout this forum that you could easily search for. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "how does it work". Like, how do you turn it on? What's it's function? Did you enable it on your Ford account?

Gonna need you to be a bit more specific!

 

[Mach1E]

I'm going to go out on a limb and pretend like your question isn't hitting 1000 on the troll-o-meter.

There's a ton of videos and reviews on BlueCruise throughout this forum that you could easily search for. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "how does it work". Like, how do you turn it on? What's it's function? Did you enable it on your Ford account?

Gonna need you to be a bit more specific!

Well to be fair the owners manual is super vague and unhelpful.

The car itself is also confusing.

I tried mine the first time and it says “BlueCruise is on,” and a blue bubble pops around a picture of the car.

Should mean I’m using BlueCruise, right?

Nope, just regular lane centering and intelligent cruise.

 

[DevSecOps]

Well to be fair the owners manual is super vague and unhelpful.

The car itself is also confusing.

I tried mine the first time and it says “BlueCruise is on,” and a blue bubble pops around a picture of the car.

Should mean I’m using BlueCruise, right?

Nope, just regular lane centering and intelligent cruise.

I've mentioned that before. It says on everywhere you turn on regular cruise. I think on the thread about BC being on undocumented roads or expanded roads I posed that questions because it makes you think it's on, but it's not.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

I've mentioned that before. It says on everywhere you turn on regular cruise. I think on the thread about BC being on undocumented roads or expanded roads I posed that questions because it makes you think it's on, but it's not.

If you hit the OK button to acknowledge you read the message about keeping your eyes on the road, will it then engage hands free? If you never acknowledge the warning, I can see it not enabling.

 

[DevSecOps]

If you hit the OK button to acknowledge you read the message about keeping your eyes on the road, will it then engage hands free? If you never acknowledge the warning, I can see it not enabling.

No, this comes on no matter if it's a BC enabled road or not. Hitting the "OK" button does absolutely nothing. If you ignore it, it goes away and regular cruise (ACC) is enabled. Likewise if you hit "OK" regular cruise is enabled. I think this is a bug because it shows on all roads regardless of BC being available.

 

[Mach1E]

If you hit the OK button to acknowledge you read the message about keeping your eyes on the road, will it then engage hands free? If you never acknowledge the warning, I can see it not enabling.

If it’s a non-BC road it looks like this after you hit ok:

If it’s a BC road it looks like this:

Of course I have no clue how to figure out which roads are BC and which aren’t and the owners manual tells you absolutely nothing about it.

If Ford is listening………

BC available should pop up as an icon on your dash.

The manual should tell you how BC works

Nav screen should show BC roads

 

[JohnnyForensic]

No, this comes on no matter if it's a BC enabled road or not. Hitting the "OK" button does absolutely nothing. If you ignore it, it goes away and regular cruise (ACC) is enabled. Likewise if you hit "OK" regular cruise is enabled. I think this is a bug because it shows on all roads regardless of BC being available.

Yeah, agreed. If it appears in both cases, that makes no sense.

 

[Lloydian]

Color me still confused.

Since we don't have a precise map of BlueCruise roads (I'm in Phoenix, and all I see is a blue blob in town), I'm not sure which roads to expect it on. I-10, I-17, US-60, Loop 101, Loop 202, Loop 303? I just don't know. What I do know is that I've had my MME GTPE on Loop 101, and it didn't engage.

But I also don't know if Apple Maps influences this. Does BlueCruise not engage if the driver is using Apple Maps for navigation? I'd like to see it in action, but I just don't know where to go to test it.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Color me still confused.

Since we don't have a precise map of BlueCruise roads (I'm in Phoenix, and all I see is a blue blob in town), I'm not sure which roads to expect it on. I-10, I-17, US-60, Loop 101, Loop 202, Loop 303? I just don't know. What I do know is that I've had my MME GTPE on Loop 101, and it didn't engage.

But I also don't know if Apple Maps influences this. Does BlueCruise not engage if the driver is using Apple Maps for navigation? I'd like to see it in action, but I just don't know where to go to test it.

Is hands free driving enabled in your cruise control settings on the center display?

 

[benk016]

Color me still confused.

Since we don't have a precise map of BlueCruise roads (I'm in Phoenix, and all I see is a blue blob in town), I'm not sure which roads to expect it on. I-10, I-17, US-60, Loop 101, Loop 202, Loop 303? I just don't know. What I do know is that I've had my MME GTPE on Loop 101, and it didn't engage.

But I also don't know if Apple Maps influences this. Does BlueCruise not engage if the driver is using Apple Maps for navigation? I'd like to see it in action, but I just don't know where to go to test it.

If you are on a road that supports BC, as soon as you engage cruise control, it will show a popup on the cluster that BlueCruise is active and to keep eyes on the road. That doesn't mean the area of highway you are on will allow it to engage though.

The highway by my house is supported, but not the part right by my house. I can get on the highway, and set cruise, and it pops up that BC is available. But its about 3 miles farther down the road before it gets to an area where it can engage. The area by my house isn't on/off ramps, its actual intersections, which keeps BC from working there.

 

[scoopman]

I agree with all of the comments here -- I think BlueCruise's HMI is not ready for prime time yet.

There need to be clear visual cues on a road that's BC-capable (even if the system isn't engaged), and very clear visual cues when the system is enabled, along with auditory cues when the system engages and disengages.

Right now, BlueCruise has a lot of cognitive load on the driver to figure out what it is doing. There should be little thought required to understand whether you can use it, and when the transitions in / out of the mode happen.

Just look at videos of GM's SuperCruise -- similar limited Level 2 system, but the visual and auditory cues are there through things like dedicated lights in the steering wheel.

 

[benk016]

I agree with all of the comments here -- I think BlueCruise's HMI is not ready for prime time yet.

There need to be clear visual cues on a road that's BC-capable (even if the system isn't engaged), and very clear visual cues when the system is enabled, along with auditory cues when the system engages and disengages.

Right now, BlueCruise has a lot of cognitive load on the driver to figure out what it is doing. There should be little thought required to understand whether you can use it, and when the transitions in / out of the mode happen.

Just look at videos of GM's SuperCruise -- similar limited Level 2 system, but the visual and auditory cues are there through things like dedicated lights in the steering wheel.

I feel like its pretty obvious when it disengages. The entire cluster changes color, a warning pops up, and the system beeps to take control.

When the system is engaged, there is a very large steering wheel icon with HANDS FREE below it with the whole cluster going into a different color to show its engaged.

Obviously this is my opinion. Other people may want more of an alert to feel comfortable with it.

 

[breeves002]

I agree with all of the comments here -- I think BlueCruise's HMI is not ready for prime time yet.

There need to be clear visual cues on a road that's BC-capable (even if the system isn't engaged), and very clear visual cues when the system is enabled, along with auditory cues when the system engages and disengages.

Right now, BlueCruise has a lot of cognitive load on the driver to figure out what it is doing. There should be little thought required to understand whether you can use it, and when the transitions in / out of the mode happen.

Just look at videos of GM's SuperCruise -- similar limited Level 2 system, but the visual and auditory cues are there through things like dedicated lights in the steering wheel.

I also disagree.

Why do you need to know you're on a road that its available? It enables automatically and you have the choice to leave your hands on the wheel or remove them. You don't have to remove them. Note there is a notification if you're on a BC capable road and cruise control is off. I have this feature turned off so I'm not sure if it works but I have seen that as a toggle in settings.

It is also very obvious when it disengages. It is always tracking if your hands are on the wheel. If they are then when it disengages it doesn't give you any message except the graphic of the blue going away. If you don't have your hands on the wheel it says 'keep hands on wheel' then will start dinging nearly immediately if you don't.

I find theres very little thought I have to put into it. It is intuitive and obvious. I've used it for probably 1500 miles of highway driving with the system enabled and it is fantastic - aside the occasional hiccup same as lane centering has. Never once did I think it needs any different sort of cues or more information. I had my mom use it one time and she had no issues with it and immediately placed her hands back on the wheel when it prompted. She's not a tech or car person at all and thought it was great.

OP - make sure hands free is turned on and that your car does actually have blue cruise. Driver camera is on top of the steering column, right? It is an option on GT/GTPE.

 

[breeves002]

If you are on a road that supports BC, as soon as you engage cruise control, it will show a popup on the cluster that BlueCruise is active and to keep eyes on the road. That doesn't mean the area of highway you are on will allow it to engage though.

Not exactly true. It says that the first time lane centering engages. So if you turn cruise on and lane assist is on - even if you're on a 25mph residential road that obviously will never have BC - if lane centering engages, the second it engages is when it displays that message. That is the only time it displays it until next key cycle.

Sorry I'm a junkie when it comes to cruise control. I use it basically everywhere except small residential roads.

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