How exactly does the BlueCruise work on GT Performance Edition?

[breeves002]

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.

You're right, the message doesn't matter. It is just a reminder when lane centering engages that BC could engage if available. The car will act exactly the same way no matter if you hit ok or let it time out.

I don't believe it is a bug. It is just letting you know the first time lane centering engages that BC could engage at any time. I think they do this instead of when you're on a BC road so it happens when you're doing something and not just a random pop up you could easily miss. Not to mention if you're on a highway that turns into a divided highway with no stops or turns BC could be available and you may have been using lane centering previously.

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[benk016]

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.

Interesting. I guess since my house is right next to the highway, my first time engaging it is always on a BC capable highway. And then subsequent times using it have always been on non-bc roads and don't get the popup.

 

[scoopman]

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.

Judging from the 20 page threads on this and the fact that reviewers such as The Straight Pipes couldn't figure out for the life of them whether the system was engaged, I'm not sure that's a fair statement.

You have to admit the visual treatments of BlueCruise -- especially when you have the cluster in dark mode -- are less than very obvious. This needs to be *extremely* obvious if you are asking a driver to take control of a steering wheel (or not let go of it!) and gain situational awareness.

 

[breeves002]

Judging from the 20 page threads on this and the fact that reviewers such as The Straight Pipes couldn't figure out for the life of them whether the system was engaged, I'm not sure that's a fair statement.

You have to admit the visual treatments of BlueCruise -- especially when you have the cluster in dark mode -- are less than very obvious. This needs to be *extremely* obvious if you are asking a driver to take control of a steering wheel (or not let go of it!) and gain situational awareness.

It dings loudly and repeatedly if you don't take control of the steering wheel when it believes you need to. If it thinks it is SUPER urgent you grab it right away it says "resume control" and flashes red with a loud constant aural warning. I think that is fine.

There are 3 types of BC disengagement.

1. No notice at all. If your hands are ON the steering wheel when it disengages it will not notify you. The blue graphic will go away and the normal lane centering icons will appear.

2. Notice to place hands on wheel. This is the normal disengagement if your hands are not on the wheel. it will change the graphic to lane centering and notify you without a tone to put hands on wheel in the IPC. If you do not place your hands on the wheel within a few seconds it will start to ding to notify you. If you continue to not place your hands after x number of seconds it will say resume control with a loud constant aural warning.

3. In a case where BC believes it cannot control the car in a safe manner with lane centering or hands free a red pop up saying "resume control" will immediately pop up and a loud aural warning will constantly play until you give the steering wheel some input to prove your hands are on the wheel. This fully disengages both BC and lane centering. ACC is still engaged. This can happen at any time. It can happen immediately after a disengagement. It will only happen if your hands are not on the wheel. It assumes if your hands are on the wheel and you are looking forwards you are in control. One note on this - I'm not sure if it is more likely to happen if you are looking away when a disengagement happens but that is a theory I have. I have had this happen several times. It will also happen with lane centering if it believes your hands are not on the wheel and a disengagement happens. This is different than the pre-BC vehicles as they just do the simple off ding. If your hands are on the wheel lane centering still does that simple off ding - it is only if it believes your hands are off.

I believe this is plenty of notice because in a situation where the car believes it cannot safely control it - it really lets you know you need to take control.


I do believe the first time you use it if you've never driven a ford with lane centering it can take a minute to realize when it is lane centering versus BC, especially if you have navigation enabled....but for someone who had already been driving Fords with lane centering it was extremely obvious when BC was enabled or not enabled. After using it one or two times it should be obvious to anyone when it is engaged. There are multiple cues. Plus if you read the manual about lane centering you can see what to expect when hands on lane centering is engaged.

I should make an in depth video.

 

[agoldman]

I get the pay attention message mostly. Eyes looking elsewhere... The BC icons change very often between hands free and just regular. It seems to work well but sometimes it's hard to tell what mode it's on during use. BC makes you press the OK button to get things started during each session. It is nice not to have to touch the wheel as often though. Seems to hold the lane better than the prior system on curves.

 

[benk016]

Judging from the 20 page threads on this and the fact that reviewers such as The Straight Pipes couldn't figure out for the life of them whether the system was engaged, I'm not sure that's a fair statement.

You have to admit the visual treatments of BlueCruise -- especially when you have the cluster in dark mode -- are less than very obvious. This needs to be *extremely* obvious if you are asking a driver to take control of a steering wheel (or not let go of it!) and gain situational awareness.

I only use my displays in Dark mode. I think its SUPER obvious when its on in that mode. The whole cluster goes to a brighter blue display. and then back to darker blue when it disengages. Its not just part of it, the whole display changes.

 

[Lloydian]

But is there a way to know that BlueCruise is even installed in my car? I look at the online manual, and it says that enabling requires going to the vehicle drawers, then Settings, then Driver Assistance, then Cruise Control, then Lane Centering with Hands-Free. I don't see "Lane Centering with Hands-Free." Again, this is the MME GTPE, and it was built at the end of September. It's supposed to have it (I thought). Is it possible my car didn't get it? For those of you who have used BlueCruise, did you have to enable it in a settings screen before it could show up?

 

[phil]

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

"Super vague and unhelpful" is too generous. In fact, the owner's manual is completely silent - the term "BlueCruise" does not appear once in any of the current manuals I downloaded from ford.com.

I just wanted to look up in the manual how to turn the damn thing on. I'll try some buttons and menus and see what happens!

 

[Thor2j]

Isn't the icon at the bottom (lane centering) green when blue cruise hands free isn't on and when full blue cruise is on its blue?? I've used BC a ton and have zero problems telling when it's on or off. You won't see the hands holding steering wheel icon and it says hands free. How much more notification do you need?

 

[breeves002]

Old but gonna reply anyways.

But is there a way to know that BlueCruise is even installed in my car? I look at the online manual, and it says that enabling requires going to the vehicle drawers, then Settings, then Driver Assistance, then Cruise Control, then Lane Centering with Hands-Free. I don't see "Lane Centering with Hands-Free." Again, this is the MME GTPE, and it was built at the end of September. It's supposed to have it (I thought). Is it possible my car didn't get it? For those of you who have used BlueCruise, did you have to enable it in a settings screen before it could show up?

Look at the window sticker. Look for the camera module directly on the steering column facing you.

Isn't the icon at the bottom (lane centering) green when blue cruise hands free isn't on and when full blue cruise is on its blue?? I've used BC a ton and have zero problems telling when it's on or off. You won't see the hands holding steering wheel icon and it says hands free. How much more notification do you need?

It's grey when nothing is enabled.
Modes:
Grey with lane lines only - lane assist is available but not active
Green with lane lines only - lane assist is active
Grey with steering wheel icon - lane centering/BC are available but not active
Green with steering wheel icon - lane centering is active
Blue with steering wheel icon - BC is active

Yeah it is really obvious to tell when BC is on or off though based on the whole cluster color. You instantly notice when it turns off due to the giant animation changing the entire color scheme of the cluster. Day and night modes makes not difference it is still super obvious.

 

[phil]

I just wanted to look up in the manual how to turn the damn thing on. I'll try some buttons and menus and see what happens!

I'm pretty sure I pushed the right buttons, cuz BlueCruise seemed to "work" for 15 miles this morning.

My expectations were extremely low, and BlueCruise met them. It mostly stayed in its lane, though it centered less consistently than a human driver. Once, with no warning and no apparent reason, it just sailed into the next lane and stopped working. It knew it screwed up - red light on the display, 'hands on wheel notice', etc. Didn't happen again, but once was enough to show it's unreliable.

The adaptive cruise control part seemed to work well. I've never had that before and it correctly moved at my desired speed and adapted to cars in front of me.

I had no trouble knowing when BC was active - I saw the double bubble, the 'hands free' message, and the 'hands on wheel' notices. Seemed clear enough, once you understand that "BlueCruise On" doesn't mean that BlueCruise is actually on.

Kind of cool, kind of fun to try it out, as I expected. But I cannot understand people who say this kind of system makes driving more relaxing. I found it terrifying, knowing my car could lose the lane at any moment. Much more stressful than regular driving!

Maybe it'll get better.

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