So Bluecruise nearly got me into an accident earlier this week...

[Mantastic]

Been using it regularly in my daily commute since there's quite a bit of straightforward freeway driving involved. For the most part, it's been nice aside from some quirks, notably how it constantly goes back and forth between hands free and needing to have hands on the wheel at random, and it's under-sensitive detection of your hands on said wheel (I gotta grip the thing pretty firmly on the sides or it barks at me).

That said, had a really scary moment a few days ago.

Out of nowhere, my car decided to veer to the right into an exit lane next to me where there was another car slightly ahead of me. Had I not immediately taken over, I would have collided into it's rear. The vehicle was in full hands free mode. I have no idea why it decided to do this outside of maybe the white paint stripe being really faded that separates the lanes throwing off the sensors, but it still should have detected the other vehicle there regardless.

Also, whenever I'm driving through underpasses, it also seems to want to lean to the right, especially if the road is curved to the left. Outside of the above instance, it doesn't do that otherwise. Related/unrelated?

Has anyone else experienced this?

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[Neil4Real]

I've only had it try and veer off when I'm in an exit lane, but it isn't exit only so you can either stay on your lane or take the right exit. My car tried to take the right exit. After that experience, I've only ever kept it in the left lanes until my exit comes up. I've had it disengage a handful of times from handsfree and when it does, its already pretty close to breaking into a new lane, so maybe that's also what happened? It started to veer from not being able to see the lane line and as it did that it simultaneously alerted to take control but was already in the next lane or just about? Your issue sounds like you were one lane over from the exit lane, is that correct? So the exit lane thing doesn't even seem be relevant? It more so just ignored the lane line and the fact that there was a car occupying the lane next to you and went over?

 

[Mantastic]

Yup, just one lane over from the exit, which was an exit only lane. However, it didn't signal me to take control. It was still in full on hands-free mode when veered over to the other lane.

Either way, I figured the sensors would have seen the vehicle there and said "yeah, not a great idea". Didn't even slow down to try and get behind it.

 

[leeman]

Has this thing about about always being too close to the right side of the lane gotten several close calls stopped using it all together.

 

[Nklem]

Yes our highway has dashed lines a cross the exits on 1/2 the highway and it works great, the other 1/2 does not and it will track the white line for the exit. Not an issue with BC it’s an issue with the painted lines going away. Your eyes were on the road and corrected it……

 

[mpshizzle]

So there may be an update to help with this issue a bit. I've done all of the BC updates via FDRS, although hands free BC isn't active yet on Ford's end.

But I have noticed some different behavior when there's a lane that splits (for example when an exit lane opens up). It used to be that the car would just randomly pick a side to follow (and then get freaked out cause it only saw one lane line), or it would immediately freak out and make me take control.

The latest IPMA/CCM software seem to handle this situation WAYY better. It has almost always continued without freaking out, and followed the right trajectory. I cannot confirm it, but it seems that in these situations it follows the car in front. If the leading car takes the left split, so will my car. Again, I am not 100% sure this is the case, but so far, that's what it has done every time.

This has been most apparent when using lane centering on city streets. Going through intersections has always been a "both hands firmly on the wheel" experience because who knows what the car will do when the lane lines temporarily disappear. But since the update it has been much more steady and sure of itself in intersections. Even to the point where on intersections where it's not straight across to the other side (like a slight curve) it follows the right trajectory very confidently. And without lane lines I think it must be following the car in front, if only for a brief time till the lines come back

 

[macchiaz-o]

So there may be an update to help with this issue a bit. I've done all of the BC updates via FDRS, although hands free BC isn't active yet on Ford's end.

But I have noticed some different behavior when there's a lane that splits (for example when an exit lane opens up). It used to be that the car would just randomly pick a side to follow (and then get freaked out cause it only saw one lane line), or it would immediately freak out and make me take control.

Yeah, I noticed the same changes... Now you effectively have the BlueCruise version of adaptive cruise control with lane centering. You're just missing the part where it occasionally lets you drive hands free for extended periods of time.

I noticed the adaptive speed control is significantly improved from before these updates. The braking is smoother and the acceleration is perhaps reduced (not positive on that yet, but it seems like it so far).

 

[timbop]

Dr Daystrom says it was just a miscalculation....

 

[JohnS1111]

At least the eye monitoring made sure you would look doom right in the trunk
To Ford's defense, at least it is marketed as a driver assistance and not an auto pilot.

I am curious experiencing blue cruise. I had a car with just adaptive cruise control as a rental and it took some trust to have it work in stop and go traffic.

 

[mpshizzle]

Yeah I noticed the same changes... Now you effectively have the BlueCruise version of adaptive cruise control with lane centering. Your just missing the part where it occasionally lets you drive hands free for extended periods of time.

I noticed the adaptive speed control is significantly improved from before these updates. The breaking is smoother and the acceleration is perhaps reduced (not positive on that yet, but it seems like it so far).

Oh good! I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing this stuff. And this makes me glad, because as it was before I would not have trusted the car at all to take my hands off of the wheel. But the way it behaves now inspires much more confidence.

Haha That's the part I'm looking forward too most. I like party tricks that work occasionally

 

[Wire280]

Been using it regularly in my daily commute since there's quite a bit of straightforward freeway driving involved. For the most part, it's been nice aside from some quirks, notably how it constantly goes back and forth between hands free and needing to have hands on the wheel at random, and it's under-sensitive detection of your hands on said wheel (I gotta grip the thing pretty firmly on the sides or it barks at me).

That said, had a really scary moment a few days ago.

Out of nowhere, my car decided to veer to the right into an exit lane next to me where there was another car slightly ahead of me. Had I not immediately taken over, I would have collided into it's rear. The vehicle was in full hands free mode. I have no idea why it decided to do this outside of maybe the white paint stripe being really faded that separates the lanes throwing off the sensors, but it still should have detected the other vehicle there regardless.

Also, whenever I'm driving through underpasses, it also seems to want to lean to the right, especially if the road is curved to the left. Outside of the above instance, it doesn't do that otherwise. Related/unrelated?

Has anyone else experienced this?

I have only been driving mine for a few weeks, but it seems to favor the right side of most any lane on BlueCruise, and twice has been in hands free mode and definitely steered the car off the right side into the shoulder area. Once it went into a bike lane, while staying in hands free but lighting up the right side warning line and alerting me that I was not keeping the lane on the right side! Obviously two separate systems in the cars control, one drives, one warns the driver.

I had the dealer realign the sensors after the first episode. Hopefully Ford fixes this soon.

I stay very ready to steer!

 

[Mantastic]

With a couple more weeks time in, BlueCruise most definitely has issues with favoring the right side of the lane way too much with certain stretches of road. Going down a straight section of freeway, it was almost driving over the lane dashes. I corrected it, got back into automatic mode, and then it did the same. It seems to do this with only with specific stretches of my commute.

Also, it going to the right with underpasses remains a huge issues. Specific underpasses where the shadows change the lighting would cause it to veer to the right, sometimes hard enough to nearly get into the next lane, or rarely (and dangerously) poke into the next lane. Once it's past it, it would autocorrect and center, or just cancel it and hope you're in control enough to correct it yourself.

This system just isn't ready for primetime, at least on the freeways I commute on. People being cavalier with it could get in an accident.

 

[Neil4Real]

With a couple more weeks time in, BlueCruise most definitely has issues with favoring the right side of the lane way too much with certain stretches of road. Going down a straight section of freeway, it was almost driving over the lane dashes. I corrected it, got back into automatic mode, and then it did the same. It seems to do this with only with specific stretches of my commute.

Also, it going to the right with underpasses remains a huge issues. Specific underpasses where the shadows change the lighting would cause it to veer to the right, sometimes hard enough to nearly get into the next lane, or rarely (and dangerously) poke into the next lane. Once it's past it, it would autocorrect and center, or just cancel it and hope you're in control enough to correct it yourself.

This system just isn't ready for primetime, at least on the freeways I commute on. People being cavalier with it could get in an accident.

Apparently, you want to hold it in the position you favor in a lane, while BC is still active. The way you're describing it, you forcefully take over too much and cause BC to disengage. Turn on BC, let it activate, and then adjust the wheel slightly enough to not disengage BC and hold the car there for 10 seconds. It should keep this location once you let go of the wheel. If BC disengages at any point though, it loses this "saved" spot and you have to adjust again.

 

[Mantastic]

Dr Daystrom says it was just a miscalculation....

Ford's decision to use the M-5 computer was a mistake.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Apparently, you want to hold it in the position you favor in a lane, while BC is still active. The way you're describing it, you forcefully take over too much and cause BC to disengage. Turn on BC, let it activate, and then adjust the wheel slightly enough to not disengage BC and hold the car there for 10 seconds. It should keep this location once you let go of the wheel. If BC disengages at any point though, it loses this "saved" spot and you have to adjust again.

Is this "hold the wheel to realign" technique working properly for you? I don't think it's working when I've tried it.

BlueCruise definitely favors the right side of a lane. Perhaps moreso when I'm heading eastbound than when I'm heading north or south. At least, I'm noticing it a lot more on one local freeway (Red Mountain 202) compared to another (Price/Pima 101).

The other night, it actually started driving on the reflector pads in between the lanes for a few seconds, then it went just a tiny bit further to the right before disengaging itself. My hands were on my lap. I was definitely not overriding the wheel. (Traffic conditions were light.)

When the system detected the lane crossing problem, the LKA indicator turned red, alert tones played, and a red alert message appeared in the instrument cluster. If I recall, instead of words it showed an icon of a vehicle with large red angle brackets on its left and right. It all happened rather quickly (and went away quickly) so I can't recall for sure. Hands free driving remained disabled for at least several seconds more after this happened, but did turn back on afterward.

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