Lane Centering Trickery

[SteveMach-ee]

Saturday morning I was driving on i95 in Connecticut with lane centering and adaptive cruise control on. Distance was set to the default max and speed was probably 69mph. Luckily I had my hands on the steering wheel (relaxed and at 4 and 8 o'clock). The car in front of me who probably paying attention ran over a large tree branch and kicked it into the center of my lane. Because I was paying attention and had my hands on the steering wheel I was able to quickly swerve around it. Luckily the breakdown lane to my right had lots of room. The branch was over 4" thick and like 8' long. It would have caused serious undercarriage or windshield damage.

My takeaway was that my Mach-e handled that quick evasive maneuver amazingly well. The car felt super stable, grounded and in control. Also I am glad I wasn't relying on a weighted snake to trick the lane-centering nanny.

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[corradoborg]

isn’t it interesting how you can drive hands-free on the same roads using the same systems if you just pay a little more per month/year? The only limitation needing understanding is money.

OP specifically mentioned using weights to fool the system "outside of Blue Cruise zones." They're not just trying to get around the cost of BlueCruise Handsfree. They're trying to figure out how to use it on non-divided highways and surface streets.

Complain about the subscription model for BlueCruise - and the price of that subscription - all you want, but this thread is about defeating safety measures, and is therefore stupid.

 

[rugedraw]

Whether you approve of this or not, a lot of people have been doing this for years. Weighing the steering wheel to gain "poor man's Bluecruise" is nothing new.

 

[SonicBlue]

Whether you approve of this or not, a lot of people have been doing this for years. Weighing the steering wheel to gain "poor man's Bluecruise" is nothing new.

Right. I’m not condoning or advocating for this. I just like dealing in facts. My investigation into the issue was driven by people baselessly claiming that Hands Free BlueCruise had more accurate Lane Keeping than Hands On BlueCruise due to the supposed “continuous mapping and remapping” of the BlueZones. And that this mapping is one reason for the hefty subscription fee. And that’s all a load of bunk. The LKA is the same, and it is a purely optical system provided by MobileEye.

Now, Ford has made a (in my opinion) reasonable safety determination that drivers should only be using the hands free tech on divided highways, and I support that. But I don’t think that’s a reason to not share basic facts about how the systems work.

Also, the torque sensor is annoyingly over-sensitive. Often nagging when I have a hand on the wheel.

As always, no matter what you do, people need to keep their eyes on the road! That’s the rule no matter how any of Ford’s tech is being utilized. And I think that’s why Ford’s eye sensors remains active no matter what.

 

[txhippiefish]

There are some serious douche bags replying here. Including one supreme douche reporting to the admins.

I appreciate the folks that recognize this is not a new concept nor exceptionally dangerous.

Note: I don’t see this being a surface street value as the need for a 90 degree turn is too common which requires the bottom of the steering wheel to cross the top which would be wonky with anything added to the wheel. I see this being a benefit on an open, sweeping turns only, undivided highway for 10s to 100’s of miles at a time. Absolutely you must still pay solid attention and the eye tracker will make sure of that or it will disable lane centering anyway.

And to the point of the post regarding the successful evasive maneuver…maybe while following someone and relying on adaptive cruise is a time NOT to rely on the weight to your point exactly regarding reaction time.

I’m not convinced this can’t be done within a reasonable and calculated safety margin!

I am convinced there are some real jerks in this forum like any other “social network”. Was hopeful that wasn’t the case! Hence why you should always “Keep your Gratitude higher than your Expectations!”

 

[Shaggyrn]

Lane keeping with cruise control still monitors your eyes. The only thing a weight would do is allow you to be hands free on a road with clearly painted lines. You still have to pay attention to the road and conditions. I would think having a weight holding the wheel with lane centering would be safer than a person using a knee to drive as they were eating. (For the older crowd who did this when traveling in the 80s and 90s)

 

[rugedraw]

Lane keeping with cruise control still monitors your eyes. The only thing a weight would do is allow you to be hands free on a road with clearly painted lines. You still have to pay attention to the road and conditions. I would think having a weight holding the wheel with lane centering would be safer than a person using a knee to drive as they were eating. (For the older crowd who did this when traveling in the 80s and 90s)

Or the countless clowns on their phones while they drive. They pose an infinitely higher risk to other drivers.

 

[SonicBlue]

There are some serious douche bags replying here. Including one supreme douche reporting to the admins.

I appreciate the folks that recognize this is not a new concept nor exceptionally dangerous.

Note: I don’t see this being a surface street value as the need for a 90 degree turn is too common which requires the bottom of the steering wheel to cross the top which would be wonky with anything added to the wheel. I see this being a benefit on an open, sweeping turns only, undivided highway for 10s to 100’s of miles at a time. Absolutely you must still pay solid attention and the eye tracker will make sure of that or it will disable lane centering anyway.

And to the point of the post regarding the successful evasive maneuver…maybe while following someone and relying on adaptive cruise is a time NOT to rely on the weight to your point exactly regarding reaction time.

I’m not convinced this can’t be done within a reasonable and calculated safety margin!

I am convinced there are some real jerks in this forum like any other “social network”. Was hopeful that wasn’t the case! Hence why you should always “Keep your Gratitude higher than your Expectations!”

You think this is bad, go visit one of the many threads about disabling the external speaker. The way some respond you’d think the folks who want a quiet car are advocating for genocide of all blind people lol.

 

[corradoborg]

There are some serious douche bags replying here. Including one supreme douche reporting to the admins.

I appreciate the folks that recognize this is not a new concept nor exceptionally dangerous.

Whether you approve of this or not, a lot of people have been doing this for years. Weighing the steering wheel to gain "poor man's Bluecruise" is nothing new.

It's hilarious to me that you guys are defending this practice by pointing out that it's not a new concept and that a lot of people do it. Those are exactly the excuses a child gives when their parent catches them doing something incredibly stupid. The fact that this practice has been around since the earliest days of Elon's Autopilot doesn't make it safe. Nor does the assertion that it is not "exceptionally dangerous." The actual fact is that it IS exceptionally dangerous and incredibly stupid... and real douchebags are people who put the safety of others in danger for their own minor convenience.

 

[Jimrpa]

isn’t it interesting how you can drive hands-free on the same roads using the same systems if you just pay a little more per month/year? The only limitation needing understanding is money.

Nope

 

[corradoborg]

Or the countless clowns on their phones while they drive. They pose an infinitely higher risk to other drivers.

Worthless whataboutism. "Other dangerous and stupid behavior justifies my own."

 

[rugedraw]

It's hilarious to me that you guys are defending this practice by pointing out that it's not a new concept and that a lot of people do it. Those are exactly the excuses a child gives when their parent catches them doing something incredibly stupid. The fact that this practice has been around since the earliest days of Elon's Autopilot doesn't make it safe. Nor does the assertion that it is not "exceptionally dangerous." The actual fact is that it IS exceptionally dangerous and incredibly stupid... and real douchebags are people who put the safety of others in danger for their own minor convenience.

Worthless whataboutism. "Other dangerous and stupid behavior justifies my own."

I'm not defending it. I just don't think it's as dangerous as some think it is. That is all. I've never done it nor am I interested in doing it. I think Bluecruise/lane centering is highly overrated and barely use it all.

 

[Jimrpa]

Whether you approve of this or not, a lot of people have been doing this for years. Weighing the steering wheel to gain "poor man's Bluecruise" is nothing new.

That just demonstrates there are lots of idiots out there and once a spectacular accident (maybe featuring children with cancer or something) gains notoriety, regulators will address the situation by making such systems illegal (or putting such onerous regulations on them as to make it non-viable for manufacturers to comply).

 

[leemoknows]

At least the lawyers representing the unsuspecting victims will have this thread to use on any lawsuits in the future.

"You can't fix stupid"

 

[Jimrpa]

I’m not convinced this can’t be done within a reasonable and calculated safety margin!

Got it. You do have some special, secret knowledge of the system that the designers don’t have. If you ever choose to reveal your data, testing regime, and analysis, it will be a fun read.

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