My Assessment of BlueCruise

[dsheib]

I'm thinking this is almost certainly true. Maybe one day that mapping can be used for other purposes, like slowing down on off ramps, but right now it's likely just a geofence. Ford has never confirmed the purpose of the mapping.

I think you're right. I just got BlueCruise this week and was driving on a highway that goes from 4 lane divided to 2 lane divided. BlueCruise worked fine right up to the point where the highway changes to one lane on each side and gave me the message that it was no longer available. Same highway, no curves, but that's evidently where Ford decided to stop.

 

[JellyBelly]

My guess is that, any mishaps with Blue cruise engaged will lead to reputational damage so high, that it will be hard to overcome the negative image. So, they're probably waiting to get say 10's of thousands of cars in various locations under a variety of conditions, to gather enough data to feel comfortable.

Not sure how many vehicles with active BlueCruise are on the road today. Somewhere between 10-30k?

You may be right that they are waiting to collect real use data and make improvement decisions.
As to how many Mach Es are on the road today with active Blue Cruise - its at best in the hundreds? Not thousands not 10K - I could be wrong. I speak of MMEs. If you include F150s that have BC - may be more. It will be awhile before actual users are in the thousands everyday.

 

[PeeKay]

You may be right that they are waiting to collect real use data and make improvement decisions.
As to how many Mach Es are on the road today with active Blue Cruise - its at best in the hundreds? Not thousands not 10K - I could be wrong. I speak of MMEs. If you include F150s that have BC - may be more. It will be awhile before actual users are in the thousands everyday.

If all Job 2 premium vehicles, built from July onwards have BC, shouldn't that number be in the 10k+ range?

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

If all Job 2 premium vehicles, built from July onwards have BC, shouldn't that number be in the 10k+ range?

Remember F150 has it as well

 

[Mach1E]

After my OTAs stalled out on 2.4.2 over a week ago, I got approval to have the dealership install the BlueCruise update yesterday. So I think that makes me one of maybe a few dozen Job 1 2021s that actually narrowly got BlueCruise by the end of Q1 2021, though not OTA. And about 9mos late as originally scheduled, but I digress. What you guys want to know is how it works.

Well, first, be aware it may not work at all for the first 12-24 hours! Even though I had it toggled on under the driver assistance settings (it’s called “hands free”) and I checked my ford.com vehicle dashboard to ensure BlueCruise was activated (under Connected Services), it didn’t work for me last night. Customer Service was worthless, as per usual. They suggested I wasn’t on an eligible road. When I asked them to verify based upon my location, they said they couldn’t do that because they don’t actually have a map of the Blue Zones. One is supposed to be coming. In May. Dammit Ford, stop being so bad at this. Please.

But anyway, today it worked. I took it on about a 25 mile loop of a few connecting highways around and through Wichita. It generally works fine. I had no issues on the straight stretches - no ping ponging - and it also handled most of the mild curves with only mild ping ponging.

In the map below, I’ve highlighted three curves in red which it could not handle. Well, let me be very clear about this - the lane centering could handle these curves just fine, but BlueCruise insisted that I put my hands back on the wheel anyway. And it does not navigate highway interchanges at all. I’m not talking cloverleafs - it cannot even handle gently curving 60mph ramps from one highway to the next.

When BC is operational, the eye nanny is very sensitive. If you look down ever so slightly at the IPC (driver instrument panel cluster), you will get a gentle “Watch the Road” pop up (no chimes) after 5 seconds. If you you look over to the infotainment screen or up to the rearview mirror or off to the side somewhere, you will get a stronger “Watch the Road” (with chimes) after 5 seconds. In either case, if you ignore that warning for 7 seconds you will get a “Resume Control” and louder chimes. I didn’t see what happens after that.

So that’s basically it. My assessment is that BlueCruise is currently very conservative. I can see how this will be a bit more relaxing on long drives (I’ve got a two hour highway trip coming tonight), but at this point I’m not sure I’ll continue past the 1yr free trial unless Ford loosens up on the reigns a bit. I don’t mind the sensitivity of the eye nanny - that part wasn’t the nuisance I feared it would be - but with the amount of times you have to put hands back on the wheel it’s not a massive enhancement over standard CP360.

Let me know if you all have any questions.

Someone posted a fantastic video a while back here that changed how I think of BC.

Just treat it like what it is: a drivers aid.

And not what it isn’t: full self driving

Don’t wait for the car to force you to take over, take over when you need to.

Example: you see brake lights 3 cars ahead. You shouldn’t wait for the car to emergency brake.

Treat it like what is is: intelligent cruise control + lane keeping assist + hands free.

So in your example of an on-ramp, would you still be using cruise control at that point?

I wouldn’t. So any time lane keep or ICC would be off, BC should be off as well.

Basically it’s awesome for boring sections of the road or stop and go traffic. The same places you’d use ICC.

And if you don’t treat it like a toy or parlor trick, it’ll work great for what it is.

 

[Socalsp3]

don't know what's worse hand nanny on i5 or eye and hand nanny on mme

 

[AkMach]

I've had the MachE since February of 2021. No Blue Cruise yet.
Seems like the only enhancement to current cruise and lane control is that you can take your hands off. Everything else remains the same.
I've read how it is not Tesla like.
So I won't hold my breath about any expectations that you can type an address and it takes you there with full self-driving.

 

[skiingj]

Sorry if I missed this here or elsewhere. If we don't like BC can you just use lane centering and hand nanny? Not sure if you call it ICC or CP360. TIA

 

[ChasingCoral]

My speculation is that there are factors that we, as humans, don’t think of. Remember - Driver assistance ?
(One thing I can think of is potential traction changes in “sharper curves“. Another is the “vision” the system has in “sharper curves”. The field of view probably isn’t as wide as that of a person, and a car can’t “crane its head”).

Agreed but there are defined limits of curves at a given speed allowed for Interstate highways. That should be the target and what we should expect.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Seems like the only enhancement to current cruise and lane control is that you can take your hands off. Everything else remains the same.

You are correct. The only enhancement is you can remove your hands from the wheel while using cruise control on a divided highway.

In exchange for this luxury, you get the constant “watch the road” reminders and the car telling you to resume control on moderate corners, anywhere there was construction when the maps were updated, current construction zones, merge areas, on-ramps, off-ramps and places where the lines are poorly painted or wet and creating glare.
My overall take on BlueCruise is that it is less functional than hands on intelligent cruise control and lane centering. And if I need my hands free I can lean a knee against the wheel which gives enough resistance to fool the hand nanny while I take another bite of my sandwich. Also non-BlueCruise CoPilot360 steers fine around any but the sharpest corners. Having the hands free is cool, but what the hell else am I supposed to do with my hands while I stare at the road? Until I can also be “eyes free” and “attention free” being hands free is not very useful. It’s not like I can type an email response, turn pages in a book, or write a post on the forum. And I don’t expect the true level 38 self driving during my lifetime. So I may as well rest a hand on the wheel.
Just my own observation after 11 months without BlueCruise and 2 months with.

 

[Mr67gta]

I ordered bluecruise but don't plan on using it, I like driving my cars. Only got it for resale value.

 

[Murse-In-Airy]

Sorry if I missed this here or elsewhere else. If we don't like BC can you just use lane centering and hand nanny? Not sure if you call it ICC or CP360. TIA

I have to try this when I get home. Because I’d be happy to turn off the hands free feature and go back to hand nanny over eye nanny.

 

[JellyBelly]

If all Job 2 premium vehicles, built from July onwards have BC, shouldn't that number be in the 10k+ range?

Ok fair point I forgot about those job2s

 

[JellyBelly]

I have to try this when I get home. Because I’d be happy to turn off the hands free feature and go back to hand nanny over eye nanny.

I don’t think so … just have to use hands on the wheel if you don’t wants hands free… there is no setting yet to turn on just hands free…if you turn off now you turn off lane centering too I believe . I looked at this and did not see anyway to do this.

 

[JellyBelly]

You are correct. The only enhancement is you can remove your hands from the wheel while using cruise control on a divided highway.

In exchange for this luxury, you get the constant “watch the road” reminders and the car telling you to resume control on moderate corners, anywhere there was construction when the maps were updated, current construction zones, merge areas, on-ramps, off-ramps and places where the lines are poorly painted or wet and creating glare.
My overall take on BlueCruise is that it is less functional than hands on intelligent cruise control and lane centering. And if I need my hands free I can lean a knee against the wheel which gives enough resistance to fool the hand nanny while I take another bite of my sandwich. Also non-BlueCruise CoPilot360 steers fine around any but the sharpest corners. Having the hands free is cool, but what the hell else am I supposed to do with my hands while I stare at the road? Until I can also be “eyes free” and “attention free” being hands free is not very useful. It’s not like I can type an email response, turn pages in a book, or write a post on the forum. And I don’t expect the true level 38 self driving during my lifetime. So I may as well rest a hand on the wheel.
Just my own observation after 11 months without BlueCruise and 2 months with.

I agree that BC hands free is not as useful . I have to use it though on out of town longer drives to see how I feel after that. For around town highway driving not needed.