BlueCruise 1.4 Road Trip Observations

[lipnorth]

I agree on paying. My truck at 1.0 would require serious think ion whether to subscribe. 1.4 I think I couldn't subscribe fast enough.

I cannot wait for the update!!!!! So far no love.

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[PrimeRisk]

If Ford wants to sell more BC subscriptions, they would push the 1.4 BC updates when you pay for the subscription. But most will pass on paying for subscriptions when it's still old 1.0 /1.1 technology while others already have the upgrade.

I took a 48 mile trip the other day on the 101, using just lane centering and cruise control. My 3 month free BC ran out several weeks ago. Guess what, it performed just as well as what BC was doing without all the annoying warnings that BC has turned off.

I basically had a hands on, hands off driving experience very similar to what BC 1.1 was giving me on my 24 Flash. Keep your knee or thigh with a bit of pressure on the bottom of the wheel and you have true hands free without the cost or upgrades. Sure there's no lane change assist, but with adaptive cruise, you're pretty much keeping pace with the flow.

Rick

I'm all with you on this Rick. My BC trial ended a month ago and it's performance was so poor, I wouldn't pay a cent for it. Adaptive Cruise Control with Lane Assist provides 90% of the feature of the BC my '24 Lariat has, so what's the point.

If BC 1.4 every shows up, I'd love to try it again, but if Ford thinks I'll pay for that, they're sorely mistaken. Ford needs to get on-point with the updates and then provide 30-day free trials if they ever want to see their subscriptions start to produce revenue. This is what Tesla does and it seems to be working well for them. We own two Model Ys and my wife's '23 MYLR does not have FSD. We've gotten four 30-day trials in the last 13 months. Three of them after major FSD releases. Literally 24 hours after the update was installed, we get a message stating we just received a 30-day free trial. She just started another trial a week ago after the vehicle installed v13 of FSD. She likes it so much, she thinks she's going to subscribe when the trial is over.

Are you listening @Ford Motor Company?

 

[MountainAlive]

Does anyone know if BC 1.4 OTA first requires the front sensor “recall” to be performed? I haven’t had that done yet on my 2023.

 

[KennyB123]

Does anyone know if BC 1.4 OTA first requires the front sensor “recall” to be performed? I haven’t had that done yet on my 2023.

It unequivocally does NOT.

 

[MountainAlive]

It unequivocally does NOT.

Good to know!

 

[Riverant]

I used FDRS to update to BC 1.4 and made the necessary changes in FORSCAN, and tested out on my morning commute today.

It works very well. I never had a real problem with disengaging but felt old BC was very jerky and freaked out if cars pulled in front of me. 1.4 is much smoother and does well in slowing down appropriately to stopped traffic ahead. Previously it approached traffic much too fast and braked hard (or I manually slammed on the brakes).

In lane positioning is subtle but works well. Lane change works, but it’s very cautious. At one point, my signal was on awkwardly long as it tried to wait out a vehicle well behind my rear left bumper. Ideally it would accelerate a bit to create the necessary space…at this point it’s more a gimmick. If it only works with no traffic I may as well jerk the wheel over myself.

With FDRS, I also did a IPMA and driver alertness calibration. Not sure if it did anything but I didn’t get 1 unnecessary nag and even unsuccessfully tried to generate one by positioning my head as if I was looking out the window and/or the screen.

 

[MountainAlive]

I used FDRS to update to BC 1.4 and made the necessary changes in FORSCAN, and tested out on my morning commute today.

It works very well. I never had a real problem with disengaging but felt old BC was very jerky and freaked out if cars pulled in front of me. 1.4 is much smoother and does well in slowing down appropriately to stopped traffic ahead. Previously it approached traffic much too fast and braked hard (or I manually slammed on the brakes).

In lane positioning is subtle but works well. Lane change works, but it’s very cautious. At one point, my signal was on awkwardly long as it tried to wait out a vehicle well behind my rear left bumper. Ideally it would accelerate a bit to create the necessary space…at this point it’s more a gimmick. If it only works with no traffic I may as well jerk the wheel over myself.

With FDRS, I also did a IPMA and driver alertness calibration. Not sure if it did anything but I didn’t get 1 unnecessary nag and even unsuccessfully tried to generate one by positioning my head as if I was looking out the window and/or the screen.

I’m still too nervous to FDRS things on my truck but good to hear the noticeable difference with stopped traffic. My biggest BC complaint is how my truck plows 65mph towards cars stopped on the highway in the distance and then brakes when it is almost too late.

 

[Ishkatan]

I’m still too nervous to FDRS things on my truck but good to hear the noticeable difference with stopped traffic. My biggest BC complaint is how my truck plows 65mph towards cars stopped on the highway in the distance and then brakes when it is almost too late.

This is also one of my complaints about Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC - which I think is what BC uses.). I wish that I could tap the brake (or even press a - button) to initiate slowing down and braking way before the truck recognizes that there is a car stopped or going very slow a few hundred feet ahead or that there is a red/yellow light up ahead.

Right now when I press the brake the ACC simply disconnects until I press the resume button. Hitting the - button reduces my speed in steps but I have to keep holding it and matching rate of reduced target speed to what I actually need is challenging. I also have to reset the cruising speed rather than get back to what it had been in one go. It's doable but not user friendly and it's simply easier to revert to manual driving when slowing down gradually and then hit the speed resume button once you are close enough to cars in front and traffic is starting to move.

I do like that when traffic is slow the ACC will slow down and accelerate with the car in front. However, it's a PIA when I come to a stop for more than 5 seconds and the ACC tells me I have to hit resume or I have to press the gas pedal. (Yes, the term gas pedal will likely carry forward in our culture.)

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