How is BlueCruise supposed to work?

[hajalie24]

It allows me to be hands free but then at seemingly random times it will require my hands on the wheel again, and then a minute later go back to hands free. Why?

My maximum allowable speed gets constantly adjusted without any input, usually it lowers and so I slow down under the flow of traffic. Why's it doing this and can I adjust it?

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[VTHokies]

sometimes hands free will disengage if you are on a toll road and going through a toll booth, even if there is no "booth" per say... sometimes it'll be if it thinks you aren't paying attention (looking) at the road and other times we just don't know...

once you turn on and engage cruise control/bluecruise your set/max speed will not change unless you adjust it yourself, the adaptive cruise control part of it will slow you down if it detects a slower vehicle in front of you and keep you at a safe following distance. If the vehicle in front of you speeds up it'll match that speed increase up until your set speed or if the vehicle moves out of the way it will then speed back up to your set speed.

edit: as others pointed out there is a setting where you can have your set speed adjust to the posted speed limit.

 

[hajalie24]

sometimes hands free will disengage if you are on a toll road and going through a toll booth, even if there is no "booth" per say... sometimes it'll be if it thinks you aren't paying attention (looking) at the road and other times we just don't know...

once you turn on and engage cruise control/bluecruise your set/max speed will not change unless you adjust it yourself, the adaptive cruise control part of it will slow you down if it detects a slower vehicle in front of you and keep you at a safe following distance. If the vehicle in front of you speeds up it'll match that speed increase up until your set speed or if the vehicle moves out of the way it will then speed back up to your set speed.

My set speed is definitely changing without me being the one adjusting it, I think it happens when the speed limit changes.

 

[marlin1060]

There's a setting that will read speed limit signs and adjust the speed to a fixed margin, that you set, above the speed limit.

 

[hturnerfamily]

= turn OFF "Road Sign RECOGNITION" feature
= realize that BlueCruise is not perfect for the 'whole' trip, even on roads it says are 'BlueCruise' roads.
It is constantly 'searching' for all the aspects of the roadway it expects as part of it's protocol - if even a single one is 'missing' or not confirmed, it disengages and requires the driver to 'take the wheel'.

Now, many of us have only the 'entry' version of Automated LANEcentering(which I upgraded/added myself, to my basic PRO Lightning), which constantly requires 'hands on' at periodic 15-20 second intervals, no matter WHAT type of road you are driving.
I have overcome this constant annoyance by simply adding a 1lb 'wrist weight' strapped to the 2-3oClock position on the steering wheel. The truck works FLAWLESSLY for hundreds and hundreds of miles like this.

 

[Stalemate]

Yes turn off that speed sign recognition. One thing I notice with Bluecruise is that it doesn't seem to like curves. 90% of the time when it switches off and asks me to put my hands on the wheel, it's because I am going through a curve in the freeway. As soon as the road straightens back out the screen turns blue again.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

The randomly disabling thing is for road segments that aren't "approved" in the database for hands free operation. The most common case is a sharp curve. You'll soon realize where those locations are on routes you commonly drive.

Other circumstances involve bad weather and visibility. If it cannot create a usable visual navigation picture of the road with lane markings for a circuit distance, it will be disabled. This is most prevalent at night in the rain.

The dumb thing about this is it doesn't ding to notify you to take over. It just drops out and you won't know it until the steering wheel timeout starts honking at you. Tesla for example makes it very obvious when autopilot has to disengage. Ford needs to do better with that.

 

[Ventorum94]

= turn OFF "Road Sign RECOGNITION" feature
= realize that BlueCruise is not perfect for the 'whole' trip, even on roads it says are 'BlueCruise' roads.
It is constantly 'searching' for all the aspects of the roadway it expects as part of it's protocol - if even a single one is 'missing' or not confirmed, it disengages and requires the driver to 'take the wheel'.

Now, many of us have only the 'entry' version of Automated LANEcentering(which I upgraded/added myself, to my basic PRO Lightning), which constantly requires 'hands on' at periodic 15-20 second intervals, no matter WHAT type of road you are driving.
I have overcome this constant annoyance by simply adding a 1lb 'wrist weight' strapped to the 2-3oClock position on the steering wheel. The truck works FLAWLESSLY for hundreds and hundreds of miles like this.

If you often drive a highway that passes thru small towns, with speed limit lowered 10mph at a time when entering a town, then increased 10mph at a time when leaving the town (classic speed trap scenario) Road Sign Recognition will save you from making a contribution to Deputy Fife’s pension fund. I think it’s invaluable, and leave it on all the time.

 

[Pioneer74]

If you often drive a highway that passes thru small towns, with speed limit lowered 10mph at a time when entering a town, then increased 10mph at a time when leaving the town (classic speed trap scenario) Road Sign Recognition will save you from making a contribution to Deputy Fife’s pension fund. I think it’s invaluable, and leave it on all the time.

It also does the opposite. It periodically reads a 5 as an 8. Will set the speed to 80 or 85 in 50 or 55 mph zones. First feature I turned off. It's dangerous.

 

[Ventorum94]

It also does the opposite. It periodically reads a 5 as an 8. Will set the speed to 80 or 85 in 50 or 55 mph zones. First feature I turned off. It's dangerous.

I’m sorry to hear that! In almost 20k miles, I don’t recall ever having that happen. Since the vast majority of USA miles are driven in speed zones at or under 75mph, I’m surprised the system can even automatically adjust speed
to something that starts with “8”. I’d pursue servicing the front camera, or making sure it has a clean view. If the system were inherently flawed to allow unexpected acceleration to 85mph, I’d expect there would already be a mountain of litigation in progress, as Speed Sign Recognition has been on the road for years.

 

[Marcelo Zanetti]

.


I have overcome this constant annoyance by simply adding a 1lb 'wrist weight' strapped to the 2-3oClock position on the steering wheel. The truck works FLAWLESSLY for hundreds and hundreds of miles like this.

That is VERY clever... Love it!
Cheers,

 

[richl025]

If you often drive a highway that passes thru small towns, with speed limit lowered 10mph at a time when entering a town, then increased 10mph at a time when leaving the town (classic speed trap scenario) Road Sign Recognition will save you from making a contribution to Deputy Fife’s pension fund. I think it’s invaluable, and leave it on all the time.

Agreed - I have never noticed mine 'limiting' my speed, maybe because I never set cruising speed more than 10 mph over posted. But I have to option to go faster if I want & choose to. The tech _informs_ me, it does not limit me, which is what I want the tech to do.

 

[TaxmanHog]

It allows me to be hands free but then at seemingly random times it will require my hands on the wheel again, and then a minute later go back to hands free. Why?

In my area the right most lane markings adjacent to off/on ramps are not consistently marked in a way that helps Hands Free functionality to remain engaged, when there are short hash marks connecting the breakdown lane demarcations at the start and end of the off/on ramps then BC-HF performs flawlessly, when those hash marks are missing the lack of a right side reference line reduces the system confidence and it tends to disengage HF mode nagging me to grab the wheel.

Where available 3+ lanes I drive in the center lane to minimize this condition, or drive in the passing lane until someone running faster wants clearance for an overtake, then I yield over to the right.

Driving into sunlight rising/setting times of the day can make it a challenge for the optics to see any line markings, the truck will disengage HF and nagg you for a hand holding session with the steering wheel.

 

[Heliian]

Yes turn off that speed sign recognition. One thing I notice with Bluecruise is that it doesn't seem to like curves. 90% of the time when it switches off and asks me to put my hands on the wheel, it's because I am going through a curve in the freeway. As soon as the road straightens back out the screen turns blue again.

Blue Cruise has a limit on how tight a curve it can take, here is the bc map from ford with a curve that isn't exactly bc capable. Check the bc map from ford for your area.

 

[3rdgenfan]

It also does the opposite. It periodically reads a 5 as an 8. Will set the speed to 80 or 85 in 50 or 55 mph zones. First feature I turned off. It's dangerous.

I turned it off after realizing it saw a speed limit sign on a highway offramp that was 45, while I had it set to 10 over on a 65mph road.

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