Sandy Munro checks out Ford's BlueCruise

[Accord07]

Or heaven forbid us disc rental customers that they decided they didn’t give a damn about and sold it away…

I remember those days, when I had little funds but too much time. Paid for the lowest priced plan, ripped its contents to a hard drive as soon as a new DVD arrived in my mailbox, and by that evening it was in the outgoing mail for the next day.

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[jimbobiii]

It’s really disappointing if it’s still bailing on curves like that on supposedly “mapped” freeways

 

[garfieldorlando]

As Mach E uses the same chipset as NIO ES8, and NIO offers much more features including hands-free driving, no reason Ford cannot offer them. The current available features are well below what this EyeQ4 can support.

 

[RedStallion]

Incorrect...it disengages right here in the video without anyone touching it and the Ford guy literally says it cannot handle some curves:

If you look carefully, the disengagement occurred at a significant distance from the curve. So something happened there. Since BC is based on maps and geofences it might have been simply the bug in maps.
The regular intelligent cruise control could have taken the curve without problems just relying on the computer vision, I see it every day, but that in general would be unacceptable for hands free driving.
Tesla, mentioned here, totally relies on camera, which is insufficiently safe for hands free driving, it's not all that different from the same intelligent cruise control.

 

[RedStallion]

I would rather Ford not putting this BlueCruise out instead of telling everyone how bad it is. This miserable show indeed tells everyone how far behind even comparing to the free Tesla AP.

Tesla AP is called Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control in Ford cars. BlueCruise on the other hand is a hands-free driving on mapped sections of the roads. Any disengagement in those blue zones should be considered a bug and has to be fixed. Tesla with its perpetual beta FSD released to some guinea pigs has been shown to be a total disaster with constant disengagements and unsafe maneuvers, it's not even in the same category.

 

[RedStallion]

As Mach E uses the same chipset as NIO ES8, and NIO offers much more features including hands-free driving, no reason Ford cannot offer them. The current available features are well below what this EyeQ4 can support.

Mobileye, though quite impressive, is a computer vision only system. It would need to be supplemented with lidar to achieve sufficient safety ratings on the streets. It's not going to happen soon. And it will still be problematic on highways.
Ford made the right decision going with geofencing, it's cheap, you can do it already now, and it's safe. The limitations is, of course, it only will be available on select highways. But that's where you need it most.

 

[RedStallion]

This. As it stands from this video the free/included Autopilot works better than BlueCruise but you need your hand on the wheel. FSD is for "full self driving" (i.e. Traffic control devices, ramps, city streets, lane changes, and turns etc.).

I'm sure the Intelligent Cruise Control would do the same route without disengagements. And in fact BC also took previous similar curves without a problem. So I can only qualify it as a bug. On the other hand, Tesla doesn't offer hands-free driving at all. Even the deceptively named "full self driving" is actually the same L2 driver's assist which requires hands on the wheel.

 

[RedStallion]

Sandy makes a good point that BC ought to give a visual cue that it “sees” and is ready for a curve up ahead. Evidently Tesla AP does this, and it’s a great idea.

You don't realize that the car "sees" just 20-100 ft depending on particular circumstances. The visual cues beyond that is just a speculation, which can change at any second. The blue oval disappears as soon as the car doesn't see enough, it's not like it knows it will disengage but waits to show that. Tesla is not any better, it's just creates a deceptive picture with those arrows.
The Blue Cruise as it was already explained didn't disengage but only required to put hands on the wheel on that curve. I would consider that a bug, because it detracts from hands-free promise.

 

[AllenXS]

Munro did have aspects of Tesla he wasn't happy with either.
Still seems a way off before we get a customizable system that does what we all want.

 

[Mach Daddy]

Obviously not a good look, but I would have still selected the package that includes BC if it didn’t include it.

My lane keep assist can take those turns but it’s a queasy feeling as it bounces off the lines. I assume that BC will eventually make the turns but I thought Ford was further along.

 

[richsi]

$600 for 3yrs seems a little steep if the sole benefit is to not be bugged as frequently by the hand nanny.

Just curious, isn't Tesla's self drive feature $10,000 before you buy the car, as an option? Am I wrong?

 

[Shayne]

Looks great and it is worth it for people that use hands free a lot and do not want to be screamed at every 10 seconds to put their hands on the wheel. Should be no difference than the lane centering without the warnings to grab the wheel which is one of the main reasons I will not use it. Noted someone said to hang your old gym shoes off the steering wheel to overcome that but this is better.

Sorry if this was brought up already but I am not reading 6 pages on Sandy. I am confused a bit it appears he was hitting the set cruise (on/off) button to enable it? Why not the bottom right button the one that enables lane centering? It does lane centering if you did not purchase self driving and self driving if you did. Every time you turn on the cruise it defaults to self driving is a bit weird. Maybe I am missing something.

 

[DMIINC]

Just curious, isn't Tesla's self drive feature $10,000 before you buy the car, as an option? Am I wrong?

Totally correct and at $10000 ridiculous. However, Ford's implementation is not ready yet even if it is $600. I was ready to shell out the money but after seeing this I will pass and wait to see if there are any meaningful improvements.

 

[Mirak]

You don't realize that the car "sees" just 20-100 ft depending on particular circumstances. The visual cues beyond that is just a speculation, which can change at any second. The blue oval disappears as soon as the car doesn't see enough, it's not like it knows it will disengage but waits to show that. Tesla is not any better, it's just creates a deceptive picture with those arrows.
The Blue Cruise as it was already explained didn't disengage but only required to put hands on the wheel on that curve. I would consider that a bug, because it detracts from hands-free promise.

I thought the whole point of limiting BC to “mapped” highways was because it uses the mapped data to more safely anticipate twists and turns in the road? So BC should “see” a heck of a lot further than 20-100 feet ahead. It would be a good idea for BC to give some visual cues that it is ready for curves ahead.

If the “mapping” of the highways was only to create a geofence where BC can be used, that will be quite disappointing. Several people have assured us this is not the case.

 

[Mirak]

Just curious, isn't Tesla's self drive feature $10,000 before you buy the car, as an option? Am I wrong?

Tesla also now allows you to pay $199/mo if you’d prefer just to try it out or if you don’t want to pay the full $10k up front.

But I don’t really care what Tesla does. Ford should allow people a trial period before plunking down for a 3yr subscription. Or at least allow the folks in the EAP to test for free until it’s ready for full rollout.

That was supposed to be the whole point of EAP - beta testing. Ford insider @trutolife27 describes BC as being in beta several times. And indeed Ford sent an invite to the EAP participants to sign up for BC, but now I’m hearing you still have to subscribe in order to activate, which would mean that Ford is just using the EAP to sell BC to early adopters - not beta test it.

Come on @Ford Motor Company - You’re letting Sandy Munro test this out. Time to let the real MME experts in your EAP test it, too?

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