BlueCruise 1.4 - What do you think?

[Tommy Holt]

You had me at “turn off lane centering”

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[Danface]

Do people actually pay 50 per month for Blue Cruise?

Go figure, IMHO, aggravation is better when it's free.

 

[Altivec]

I mean adaptive cruise control with lane centering works most anywhere and what major difference is there other than hand detection?

That is exactly what I mean... Why do they not allow bluecruise to work everywhere like adaptive cruise? I don't understand why it needs to be pre-mapped if pre-mapping doesn't actually accomplish anything. I thought Ford was playing it safe by having someone drive the roads and then tweak any problems such as off ramp speed signs, etc... But Nope, pre-mapped roads also drive like garbage so at least allow us to drive everywhere. We are forced to keep our eyes on road anyways.

Maybe in the US it's different because you have so many places to use it. In Canada they don't even have the major highways connecting major cities (you know where people would actually like to use it). All we have are some freeways inside our cities, where there are a hundreds off ramps and many legitimate speed changes. So if you shut speed signs off, you are constantly adjusting the speed and if you keep it on your truck drives like a yo-yo. Unusable!! Thank God they pre-mapped it. I hate to see what it would be like if they didn't.

At least in Canada, major improvements are needed before Ford can charge for this service. Unfortunately for me, I already paid for hardware and development believing the hype. I have already come to grips that I will not even get close to the promise of a usable semi-autonomous system with this generation of truck.

 

[SilverLight]

2024 Lariat here with expired Blue Cruise trial. I like BlueCruise but can't bring myself to pay for the "old" version. If they upgrade my 2024 to 1.4 or 1.5 then i'll buy the yearly subscription.

Can't complain too much. Also have a 2024 Navigator and updates are pretty much nonexistent for those. Was sold on the "It has the tech to get upgraded to BC 1.4 and higher". But i don't think Lincoln is pushing updates to anyone mostly for fear of the blue hair customer base.

 

[jefrank]

That is exactly what I mean... Why do they not allow bluecruise to work everywhere like adaptive cruise? I don't understand why it needs to be pre-mapped if pre-mapping doesn't actually accomplish anything. I thought Ford was playing it safe by having someone drive the roads and then tweak any problems such as off ramp speed signs, etc... But Nope, pre-mapped roads also drive like garbage so at least allow us to drive everywhere. We are forced to keep our eyes on road anyways.

Maybe in the US it's different because you have so many places to use it. In Canada they don't even have the major highways connecting major cities (you know where people would actually like to use it). All we have are some freeways inside our cities, where there are a hundreds off ramps and many legitimate speed changes. So if you shut speed signs off, you are constantly adjusting the speed and if you keep it on your truck drives like a yo-yo. Unusable!! Thank God they pre-mapped it. I hate to see what it would be like if they didn't.

At least in Canada, major improvements are needed before Ford can charge for this service. Unfortunately for me, I already paid for hardware and development believing the hype. I have already come to grips that I will not even get close to the promise of a usable semi-autonomous system with this generation of truck.

Simply turn off lane centering then you have ACC whether on a mapped or unmapped road.

 

[Altivec]

Simply turn off lane centering then you have ACC whether on a mapped or unmapped road.

Yes, I am aware that ACC can work on unmapped roads. The point is, why can't we use bluecruise on unmapped roads too then? What does "mapping" a road actually accomplish? Why would I pay for bluecruise when we have very few mapped roads and the ones we do have, don't "map" very well. As you said, the solution is not use bluecruise, which then answers the OP question in the title "Bluecruise 1.4 - What do you think?" The answer is less about me finding a solution to bypass bluecruise and more so for Ford to understand that you need to provide a compelling reason for people to pay for a service.

As it stands in Canada, bluecruise should be in the free test pilot stage and not even be mentioned or sold as a service. Like I said, I feel duped for paying for the hardware ($2700 for 3 years of nothingness plus whatever the hardware costed). They are doing themselves a huge disservice by tarnishing the bluecruise name in the event they eventually do decide to map the roads up here.

 

[Fast87t]

A few weeks ago, I headed to Vegas on a quick work trip. I noticed the BCruise was acting funny pretty early on the drive, but it wasn't until Barstow that I noticed that I'd been updated to BC 1.4 over night, and so for the last stretch of that trip, the return, and around my home county here on the coast, I've been logging what I've experienced while BlueCruising.

So far, I see that it's staying "on" in more parts of the highway. During several sections of the LV trip, it seemed to go forever without asking me to grab the steering wheel. In general, I like the auto lane switching feature, although, in traffic, when you're most likely to switch lanes to get around a slower vehicle, it's not really reading the road (say you're behind a car going 50, and you want to move into the fast lane, it moves into that lane at 50, and stays that way for just long enough to piss off any drivers coming from behind). Add to that, if you try to manually change lanes after signaling, it often fights you a bit, and can give a cancel warning mid switch. This Feature feels like it could use some finessing.

One of the things I noticed before I realized there had been an update, were some "in lane" mini-swerves that were new to me. One of those was the new "maneuver when passing large vehicles, which now that I know about, is a nice trick. The other is a bug I think. It happens when as you near where an on ramp meets the freeway, and the solid line to the right splits to allow for the onramp to merge into traffic. Bluecruise very definitely swerves to "split the difference" before correcting and recentering in the lane. Now that I know what it's doing I'm ok with it, but at first I thought it was heading into the on-ramp lane. It's a pretty abrupt swerve. This is new behavior for me, and it really should befitted.

Additionally, our coastal freeways are pretty curvy for a freeway, and I find the new steering through those curves to be aggressive and less smooth than before.

Finally, one of the features I was most looking forward to, the ability of the BC to assess and adjust appropriate speed when going into a tight turn, documented in the software, seems to be no better than before. It self cancels just as much, and will still head into most curves at the "set" speed rather than slowing down.

Overall, I feel like the functionality has increased, while the execution has taken a few steps back. Hopefully they can tune this update to make for a better, safer experience for all of us.

Do you have BC 1.4? What's your experience?

BLUE CRUISE IS A FAR CRY FROM WHAT TESLA HAS.
I HAVE 1.4 MY 22 LARIAT BUT RECENTLY I DROVE A 2026 MODEL Y AND THE FSD IT HAS IS LIGHT YEARS BETTER AND MORE CAPABLE AND WORTH A SUBSCRIPTION MONTHLY TO ME.

 

[jefrank]

Yes, I am aware that ACC can work on unmapped roads. The point is, why can't we use bluecruise on unmapped roads too then? What does "mapping" a road actually accomplish? Why would I pay for bluecruise when we have very few mapped roads and the ones we do have, don't "map" very well. As you said, the solution is not use bluecruise, which then answers the OP question in the title "Bluecruise 1.4 - What do you think?" The answer is less about me finding a solution to bypass bluecruise and more so for Ford to understand that you need to provide a compelling reason for people to pay for a service.

As it stands in Canada, bluecruise should be in the free test pilot stage and not even be mentioned or sold as a service. Like I said, I feel duped for paying for the hardware ($2700 for 3 years of nothingness plus whatever the hardware costed). They are doing themselves a huge disservice by tarnishing the bluecruise name in the event they eventually do decide to map the roads up here.

You'd probably have to ask Ford legal on why BC only works on mapped roads as I'm sure it's all about liability. Have only taken my truck to Canada once, I think, and pretty sure I used BC 1.0 from Sarnia to London on the 402 last summer.

I hear ya on paying for the service... I'm still in my 3 year initial trial and was offered a 4th for free so it will still be a while before I have to decide. I enjoy the hands-free option when available, but not sure it's worth more than about $20/month for me given how often I'm on the highway.

 

[daveross1212]

I agree with most of the comments here. My truck at highway speeds does not seem to slow when a tight curve is approaching. I don’t use the speed limit sign setting to manage speed so I don’t know if that is why. But the one thing 1.4 did fix for me was how it handles suddenly stopped highway traffic ahead. I encounter this daily on my commute. One minute I’m doing 70mph and then up ahead about a 1/2 mile I can see everyone has come to a complete stop. Previously the truck would just barrel onward towards this stopped traffic at 70mph and I would wait to see when it would realize but every time I had to slam on the brakes before it got ugly. But with 1.4 it seems to be using the camera vision more to be able to see farther than the radar can. And now it’s way less stressful for me to just keep BC on during my commute.

Maybe highways are different here - but if I set cruise, that's the speed I want to stay at. There's not a single curve that I would typically slow down for on any bc-mapped interstate. Different story on local roads, etc - but not on "highways".

 

[jefrank]

Maybe highways are different here - but if I set cruise, that's the speed I want to stay at. There's not a single curve that I would typically slow down for on any bc-mapped interstate. Different story on local roads, etc - but not on "highways".

You're fortunate. Here in Michigan they forced interstates and other mapped highways into places that required way too tight turns in some places, along with stupid-short acceleration lanes that the Lightning is perfect for.

 

[BarryGoyette]

Maybe highways are different here - but if I set cruise, that's the speed I want to stay at. There's not a single curve that I would typically slow down for on any bc-mapped interstate. Different story on local roads, etc - but not on "highways".

Yeah...our main coast highway (not the scenic one), which is 4-10 lanes depending on where you are between Downtown LA, San Jose, San Francisco and the Canadian border, and is mostly mapped by BlueCruise, can be remarkably curvy in almost any stretch (urban or rural). Most of it is 65 speed limit, but there are many section where that has a "yellow" speed sign telling you to bring it down to 45, and plenty of areas that if you think you can just set it and forget it to 75 you'll likely be surprised. I haven't seen BC slow the truck down in any of the sections that I'd naturally tailor my speed. At the same time, it's very good in traffic, which can drop to 0mph at a moments notice, only to open back up to 75 2 minutes later. I generally never touch the pedals in stop and go traffic near the beach.

 

[Altivec]

Have only taken my truck to Canada once, I think, and pretty sure I used BC 1.0 from Sarnia to London on the 402 last summer.

Lucky you, You happen to drive on one of the very few mapped locations in Canada. Don't believe me. Check out ford's bluecruise map (need to scroll down a bit to get to the map) https://www.ford.com/technology/bluecruise/ Look at the US and then look at Canada. On top of what I paid for all the hardware, Ford has the nerve to charge $65CAN/month for that. I just don't get how some manager (that's probably getting paid 6 figures or more) made a conscious decision to set those prices for Canada.

 

[jefrank]

Lucky you, You happen to drive on one of the very few mapped locations in Canada. Don't believe me. Check out ford's bluecruise map (need to scroll down a bit to get to the map) https://www.ford.com/technology/bluecruise/ Look at the US and then look at Canada. On top of what I paid for all the hardware, Ford has the nerve to charge $65CAN/month for that. I just don't get how some manager (that's probably getting paid 6 figures or more) made a conscious decision to set those prices for Canada.

Ugh. Unless you live in the Detroit/Port Huron-Toronto-Quebec corridor, it sucks for sure. I haven't had to decide whether to pay yet, but I definitely wouldn't in the Great White North.

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