BlueCruise is going to hurt someone

[Oafy44]

Report Sent to NHTSA. Still looking for the proper way to contact Ford. NHTSA will probably get their attention though.


I get it, my post was very "the sky is falling". I can admit that.

To your point, I do use tech in my truck because it is cool, and you are right, there are 400k plus ways to die every day. At it's core, I think my frustration with this and my other OTA rant is the appearance of lack of interest in feedback by Ford.

They just push these OTA's, with unhelpful descriptions like "Making things better!" I mean who determines better? Who determines change? I dont need to be on a customer experience board, but it would be nice to know there IS one, and better yet, one that we could provide feedback too.

As you say, it is an amazing world we live in with amazing tech. But as vehicles become more than just "Gas Go, Brake Stop" the potential ramifications of 'simple changes' grow exponentially.

Part of me thinks when blue cruise shifts to the silver steering wheel - technically not blue cruise - it’s learning those roads before being converted to future blue cruises and once it has so many data points and has mapped it - they will convert. Maybe it’s just me but I think the silver steering wheel has gotten better on the same roads then when I first got it almost a year ago. Can’t prove it but it does seem that way.

Sponsored

 

[ctuan13]

The most horrifying part of this whole thread? The staggering number of people that can't spell "brake"

But in all seriousness, this is a serious problem, I personally almost never use cruise control, I just prefer to use my foot and I have BlueCruise completely disabled. But I understand lots of people find it very useful. You shouldn't have to check your critical drive settings after every update to find if they've all been messed with! Definitely report this to the NHTSA if you've had this happen.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Just lucky I guess

Are there other drivers of your truck?

 

[TheBigBezo]

One thing from this thread that has surprised me is how much people dislike the speed sign recognition. I'm the opposite of most of y'all, passing 20mph cruise control is on and I have all of the automation settings enabled. Interesting how much things can vary between individuals.

 

[TaxmanHog]

For those that pose solutions for signs off to the side of the road, you need to understand that the truck uses signs AND A DATABASE. It will react to the DATABASE if there is no sign.

Such might be the case, but if the trucks error prone GPS places/perceives the truck is in the low speed lane @ 50 MPH VS a through traffic lane @ 65 MPH where I'm driving, then it shouldn't decelerate.

 

[neririn]

Are there other drivers of your truck?

Nope. Just me. Single profile, and it's mine. That said, i've disabled the same
things on the default profile too.

 

[neririn]

The most horrifying part of this whole thread? The staggering number of people that can't spell "brake"

But in all seriousness, this is a serious problem, I personally almost never use cruise control, I just prefer to use my foot and I have BlueCruise completely disabled. But I understand lots of people find it very useful. You shouldn't have to check your critical drive settings after every update to find if they've all been messed with! Definitely report this to the NHTSA if you've had this happen.

LOL. Wow! Guilty as charged. I wish I could blame it on autocorrect, but I think that was all me.

 

[neririn]

Part of me thinks when blue cruise shifts to the silver steering wheel - technically not blue cruise - it’s learning those roads before being converted to future blue cruises and once it has so many data points and has mapped it - they will convert. Maybe it’s just me but I think the silver steering wheel has gotten better on the same roads then when I first got it almost a year ago. Can’t prove it but it does seem that way.

I don't think I am familiar with the silver steering wheel. Where/when would I see that?

 

[Mike G]

I have never had Bluecruise slam on my breaks for a speed limit change. Putting on some relatively gentle regen to slow me down, sure, but nothing abrupt.

Emmm... I have, on both my MME and the Lightning. Not slam the brakes on exactly (hyperbole) but brake hard, yes. Speed Sign recognition is now off on the Lightning and Predictive Speed is now off on the MME for that reason. No more drama.

 

[Oafy44]

I don't think I am familiar with the silver steering wheel. Where/when would I see that?

In your info dash cluster when you select cruise control - there will be a little silver steering wheel that pops up. When blue cruise is activated it will turn blue. When it’s on a road that’s not mapped yet it will turn silver which means cruise control still works and will assist in steering but technically you have to steer or else it will kick you off the cruise control

 

[Formerly]

Holy drama.

Just check your settings after an update. Simple.

Make sure you check all 13455368985 settings each time, make a coffee and turn it into brunch

 

[ivan256]

Seems more of a municipality problem then a ford problem.
Ford will figure it out - basically software will realize when a speed change will take place and start to slow down so it’s at speed once it gets there

instead of being frustrated , be amazed at what kind of technological age we are living in right now.

if everyone was like you worked in govt we would all be walking. technology and advancements take risk and figuring it out. Tesla gets sued all the time because you Have to have real life examples in order to fix. There have been several fatal accidents by Tesla cars and it’s part of advancing the technology.

your driving a truck without an engine that can basically be optimized over the air and can drive itself in some cases. Life is good. Be positive.
God forbid you could be hit by a truck they lost its disc breaks or blew out a tire. Do we shut down all brake and tire companies ?

Fatal accidents are absolutely NOT an expected and acceptable part of the development of new technology.

Experimenting on the general public is extremely unethical. At least you, as a user of the system, opted in. The trucker the OP almost killed didn’t.

We don’t have to ban this technology to get it right. But there is an obvious and simple way to have validated it works right before giving control of the brakes over to it. Any honest and attentive person who has tried the speed limit detecting feature knows full well it’s frequently wrong and not even close to ready for prime time.

 

[metroshot]

....... Any honest and attentive person who has tried the speed limit detecting feature knows full well it’s frequently wrong and not even close to ready for prime time.

^^^ This is correct.

Humans are the best to judge what is safe rather than a computer with cameras.

I only use BlueCruise when I am out in the open roads on a trip - never in congested traffic nor if construction is happening and/or temporary reduced speed signs.

 

[iam7foot1]

With OTA updates reverting settings autonomously, see my previous rant, blue cruise/Cruise control is going to really hurt someone soon.

Case in point, I have speed sign recognition off. For those who aren't familiar, this is a feature that will watch for speed signs and automatically adjust cruise control accordingly. I've long since turned it OFF.

However a recent OTA update turned it on for me again. How very considerate.

Anyway, I was happily driving down 1-15 in southern Utah last night with Blue Cruise/Cruise control enabled, and speed set at 80MPH. (the posted speed limit for that particular stretch of I-15). As I was moving along at 80, BlueCruise/Skynet saw a speed sign for the frontage road next to the freeway. This particular frontage road is close to a residential area and therefore the speed limit is 25MPH. So what did my rolling coffin do? You guessed it. It slammed on the breaks in the middle of an interstate to adhere to the 'posted speed'.

Despite nearly soiling myself, I survived the incident because luckily for me, the semi truck behind me was able to swerve into the left lane and luckily for him, it was empty.

I immediately called my wife who was driving her Mach-E about 2 miles behind me also heading home to warn her that Ford was trying to kill us. The call was answered just in time to hear my wife and kids scream as her Mach-E did the exact same thing at the exact same place.

So @Ford Motor Company how do I report this seriously dangerous situation before someone dies?

This is completely irresponsible.

First you should NOT turn optional <explitive> settings back on once manually turned off. EVER.

Second, a vehicle should NEVER autonomously and that aggressively decrease speed for anything, let alone a speed limit sign.

If I am exceeding the posted limit, I get a speeding ticket. Yet if I slam on the brakes in the middle of a freeway and subsequently cause an accident that tragically kills someone, I am tried for involuntary manslaughter.

This of course is the case unless you guys log your coding mistakes as well as you write them. Either way, someone is likely going to jail.

UGH. You're killing me Ford. I love my Lightning, but you guys sure are doing your best to make me hate it.

LOL @ "Skymet". Hahahaha!

 

[LightningCanuckNB]

There is a lot of confusing things going on in this thread

#1 - OP is not complaining about Blue Cruise. They are complaining about the speed sign recognition feature. This feature has nothing at all to do with Blue Cruise, it has to do with regular cruise control. When enabled, this feature is operational in cruise regardless of if truck is using Blue Cruise or not.

#2 - "Brake" vs "regen" is just semantics and is not the salient point. The salient point is that when the speed sign feature is turned on, the truck *does* abruptly slow down., and it does it very aggressively. This is also why I had to turn this feature off, just like the OP. I found it extremely annoying and also dangerous, even when it is working properly. But I can also attest to what the OP saw, that the feature can also screw up and see signs that are not correct. Ford should remove this feature until it is fixed, right now it is very very bad.

#3 - There is no reason Ford needs to change settings on a S/W update. It is not excusable.

Sponsored