BlueCruise Subscription Price Increased to $800/yr for All Renewals

[luebri]

Maybe the price increase is just part of Ford's overall game plan to reach a +8% eBit margin by 2026. If so, then perhaps we get an inkling of how well those plans are going to go over .... (thud!).

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...v-losses-for-the-first-time.14960/post-317632

This article released today discusses that very topic. Although there is some real funny math going on. See below for the excerpt.

$200,000,000 (possible revenue) / 100,000 = $2,000 revenue for active subscriber!??!? The article is a bit ambiguous but I would assume they are talking annually?


‘Different kind of revenue’

"Doug Field, chief advanced product development and technology officer, also touted a push into software and subscription revenue models, using the automaker’s BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system as as example.
“As we build out our next gen platforms, we aspire to deliver [BlueCruise] to as many customers as possible,” Field said. “When you can take your eyes off the road, everything changes.”
Ford for the 2024 model year expects to build 500,000 vehicles equipped with the hands-free technology. At an expected take rate of 20%, Field said BlueCruise alone could amount to $200 million in revenue.
“My finance and business partners tell me that this is a different kind of revenue,” he said. “They use these words like accretive to margins, less cyclical than vehicle sales.”
Field said that Ford’s approach to creating EVs is radically different from its traditional strategy for vehicle development, emphasizing that software will define and control many new features – including features Ford hasn’t yet developed, but will add to existing vehicles in the future via updates.
“The products we make are not living rooms,” Field said. “They are moving, working robots. And our software ambition goes way beyond deep into how our products move, how they collect data, and how they support people who are going to use them for real work.
“We call them unimaginably great products, because the best things we will make are the ones we haven’t thought of yet.”


https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/22/ford-capital-markets-day.html

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[Amps]

“When you can take your eyes off the road, everything changes.”

...but you can't.
So, nothing has really changed?

 

[sotek2345]

...but you can't.
So, nothing has really changed?

If their vision for Bluecruise for $800/yr. is eyes OFF the road (even if just on divided highways), I am MUCH more interested.

 

[Amps]

If their vision for Bluecruise for $800/yr. is eyes OFF the road (even if just on divided highways), I am MUCH more interested.

As it is, I can't trust it to not drive in traffic like a total douchebag. But, I'm holding out hope for 1.2 and being a lot more polite in lane positioning.

 

[sotek2345]

As it is, I can't trust it to not drive in traffic like a total douchebag. But, I'm holding out hope for 1.2 and being a lot more polite in lane positioning.

I have had zero issues with 1.0, but I have seen a mix of reviews on both this site and the Mach-e forums. I wonder if it is a bit vehicle specific and depends on camera alignment.

 

[Replika]

I find the current Blue Cruise "nice" sometimes, it is handy to be able to eat snacks while driving for a minute or two at a time. $200/3 years is probably more than its worth for me, but I was planning on doing it anyway.

BUT $800/year (or $5k for a 'lifetime of vehicle, according to the poll I was sent) is REALLY steep. Even a full level 5 "punch in my destination and have it wake me up when I'm at my destination" is hard to justify at $800/year, let alone what we've got. AT that price, I can keep a hand on the wheel and buy snacks I can eat with 1 hand.

BlueCruise was a major reason why I went with the loaded ER Lariat over the Pro, which I actually enjoyed the ride of more. ...Oh, and getting it right away

In my time with the truck (6k miles) it worked exceptionally well for a L2 system.

It's not even about if it's worth it. They changed the deal AFTER we all bought the truck. I would even calculate the "lifetime" price as higher. Assuming 15 years minus 3 free years. Your second or third owners will view that as a nonstarter.

 

[flypony53]

I have had zero issues with 1.0, but I have seen a mix of reviews on both this site and the Mach-e forums. I wonder if it is a bit vehicle specific and depends on camera alignment.

I have yet to find value for BlueCruise compared to the Lane Centering with distance control I had in my 2016 Yukon. I can remove my hands from the steering wheel, but do not look at the screen, look right/left at your mirrors/blind spots or alarms will sound. Approaching a toll checkpoint on the freeway and it disengages with alarms with no warning (no toll booth).

Also, for me when active, if a car changes into my lane, the truck swerves back in forth in the lane for about 10-15 seconds before recovering. It hugs the lines on both sides when approaching another vehicle. You would think it would hug the opposite line, but it seems to aim at the other vehicle. But other than taking my hands off the wheel for a mile or 2 at a time, it is relatively useless. No way I would pay for this functionality.

For those comparing this to AutoPilot, I would say autopilot is way more advanced, offering red Light Detection, better lane centering and better detection of vehicles in front and to the side of the car. One cool new feature on Auto Pilot when approaching a big truck on the freeway, it will shift to the other side of the lane as you pass. Pair that with Full Self Driving, you get automatic lane changes when navigating on the freeway. I have also used FSD around town, and for the most part, very few disengagements, but, it is like driving with a new driver who just received their leaners permit. Having been in the beta for FSD since they opened it public, it is light years ahead of day 1.

Unless I there is more functionality, I do not see myself renewing it for $75/month.

 

[ericpullen]

My Ford app still shows Bluecruise will expire in 2025, but I just noticed my About screen in the truck shows hands free driving through 2073.

 

[rdr854]

My Ford app still shows Bluecruise will expire in 2025, but I just noticed my About screen in the truck shows hands free driving through 2073.

Yeah buddy, I guess Ford is saying that our trucks will operate for approximately 50 years. Cool

 

[Big J’s 23 Lightning]

$800 to keep my hands off the wheel. No value there! No way I’d subscribe

 

[Ventorum94]

Anyone going to subscribe at that price?

The real value point, I believe, is Copilot 360 Assist 2.0 (not available Pro and XLT Lo, only XLT Hi and Lariat Lo). “Assist” has traffic aware cruise control w/stop-and-go, and has lane centering (not just lane keeping), on any roads with good markings. Only things Bluecruise adds to that are hands-off (but eyes-on!), and assisted lane changes- and only on digitally-mapped highways! Is that minor upgrade worth the subscription price, for Bluecruise? I don’t think so.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Motor Trend review of Ford subscription pricing and what any of it is worth. Their view is Blue Cruise is not worth $800/year. We’re Paying $650/Year to Subscribe to Our Ford F-150 Lightning (motortrend.com)

 

[markmore]

Uh, nope. That's just greed creeping into their thinking. Not a chance I'd pay that!

 

[Lytning]

Farley "praises" high margins on BlueCruise ...

"Ford CEO Jim Farley described last year as a “foundational year” for the automaker, specifically calling out several cost improvements, high gross margin on its hands-free BlueCruise highway system .."

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/06/ford-f-q4-2023-earnings.html

 

[WhipSticks]

At this point I am skeptical that my truck will ever get an OTA update, let alone one that makes BC worth using. Also, BC depends on a lot of things that Ford has no control over: glare, snow or ice cover of lane markings, mud splatters, faulty sensors (I tried to use the parking assist feature of my truck the other day, and it failed to engage because I had gone through a car wash the day before, and every time I do that, I lose that one sensor for 48 hours or so.), etc.. If BlueCruise doesn't "work" you can die. I think cars can and will be able to drive themselves more effectively than humans can drive them, but they are not there yet. Until we get there, it's not worth a subscription.

I am also sympathetic to the concept of usage levels being tied into BC subscription. Where I live, there is basically no BC available at all (one 2-3 mile stretch of a hwy about 25 miles from my house), but if BC works I want it for those occasions when I roadtrip. A per-mile fee makes more sense than a flat rate, and the fee per mile should be something providers could offer for any car/truck in some sort of marketplace. Manufacturers would not be allowed to restrict alternative providers (like comma3) from operating on their vehicles (Hello, Microsoft!).

Even that system would crumble eventually though, as all cars get the services built-in, and hive driving allows cars to communicate intent between nearby cars in traffic. That would allow cars to drive at higher speeds without human stupidity impeding effiencieny. Traffic deaths would plummet, and congress would step in to mandate that (for social justice reasons) all manufactured vehicles would have to have such systems and that they had to be built into the cost of the vehicle.

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