Severe, Dangerous Phantom Braking Event Initiated by BlueCruise

[Jim Lewis]

I was driving home from Austin last night and was on the home stretch on a northeast section of Loop I-410 headed west. There was no one in front of me for a quarter of a mile or more and no one behind me (fortunately) for about the same distance. I was in one of the middle lanes of a highway stretch that was four or five lanes across. The truck was in hands-free BlueCruise mode. Suddenly, with no audible or visual warning on my truck's part, the truck initiated a hard-braking event, so I quickly slowed down from 65 mph to somewhere around 35 mph. If someone had been behind me, they would have seriously rear-ended the truck. The braking event caused my torso to move forward out of the seat back. I didn't have BlueCruise set to change set speed based on reading speed limit signs. I had passed lots of work zones going to and coming from Austin, where the truck remained at its set speed until I manually adjusted my speed for the work zone.

After the braking event, I resumed speed and continued to use BlueCruise most of the way home with no further misbehavior. There ought to be a way to report dangerous BlueCruise misjudgments directly and immediately to Ford. There is the Send Feedback option in the Sync screen controls or the Contact Us options on the Ford website, but I think this potentially very serious event will get lost in the noise of such chatter, @Ford Motor Company.

I presume there was something in the road marking pattern or the visual pattern ahead that caused the truck sensors to think it was about to hit something. I did brush my right hand against the Sync 4A screen just as the braking event initiated. The screen was in CarPlay mode, with Waze displaying my route on the Sync display. There were no controls accessible on the screen, AFAIK, that should cause the truck to brake. I have touched various parts of the Waze display in CarPlay while driving without ever having any braking event.

I should note I've driven over the same stretch of road in my Lightning close to a half dozen times, probably never at the exact same time and with the same lack of traffic around me, though.

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[rdr854]

You should make a report on the NHTSA website for vehicle complaints.

 

[NeilTucker]

Here in Newfoundland, Canada. My 2022 Lightning Lariat appears to read the bridge weight signs. For example, 40 tonne and immediately brakes to 40 km/hr. Does not seem to be a fix other than disengaging the bluecruise momentarily. I would be curious of a similar experience.

 

[laselvasurf]

Seeing a sign and interpreting it as a new speed limit is likely what caused this. I've had this happen with Teslas before quite a bit and it can be dangerous. I had a model S go from 75 to 25 as quickly as it could in the middle of a highway. Luckily the car behind me was paying attention otherwise it would be bad.

 

[Grumpy2]

This is an example why I distrust automatic driving, there is just too much chance for disaster.
This braking event could have been in front of loaded semi ... or a school bus.
Imagine an immediate right turn of the steering while at 70 mph.
One small burp out of the computer, and people could die.
Sure it takes alot of stress out of long drives, but is it any safer?
Tesla has been spending a fortune over many years and still can't get it right.

 

[greenne]

You can disengage the automatic speed sign (called intelligent) adaptive cruise control feature. Since the truck slowed down to 35mph, it likely thought it saw a sign depicting a 35mph speed limit and tried to adjust.

One of the first things I did is turn off this feature and revert back to regular adaptive cruise control.

What is Speed Sign Recognition (ford.com)

 

[Adventureboy]

As per the OP, the owner did not have BlueCruise set to read the signs, hence the concern. If there had been a sign that it reacted to, then it is equally disturbing that it braked unexpectedly with no warning when that function is turned off
I noticed last weekend there was a change to BlueCruise that caused goofy things like a change in the auditory warnings and BlueCruise did not function in certain stretches of the highway that it previously did (I drive this stretch weekly). Those "glitches" ironed themselves out this week although there was no indication of updates in the Ford App messages between when the glitches appeared and when they were fixed (or went away).
June 10th 2:24am - update applied
June 10th 11am - anomalies above noted
June 17th 11am - anomalies disappeared
June 19th 1:24am - next update applied.

As near as I can figure, there was an update that had not been completed on June 10th causing the anomalies, and at some point, the update was completed before the next weekend. The truck or app does not tell you if an update has not been completed.

In any case, if updates are this glitchy, Ford needs to know so they can improve the process.

 

[Heliian]

This is an example why I distrust automatic driving, there is just too much chance for disaster.
This braking event could have been in front of loaded semi ... or a school bus.
Imagine an immediate right turn of the steering while at 70 mph.
One small burp out of the computer, and people could die.
Sure it takes alot of stress out of long drives, but is it any safer?
Tesla has been spending a fortune over many years and still can't get it right.

Yes, it is safer.

However, you still need to pay attention to the road.

If momentary braking is your worry then make sure you don't buy a new vehicle ever again. Most now have automatic emergency braking standard.

 

[Amps]

Most now have automatic emergency braking standard.

All will soon if the proposal is adopted, 99% of the US new car market manufacturers are already committed:

Participating manufacturers
Audi, BMW, FCA US LLC, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Tesla Motors Inc., Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo Car USA – representing more than 99 percent of the U.S. new-car market.

Details of the commitment
Participating automakers commit to make AEB standard on virtually all light-duty cars and trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 8,500 lbs. or less no later than September 1, 2022, and on virtually all trucks with a gross vehicle weight between 8,501 lbs. and 10,000 lbs. no later than September 1, 2025.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/automatic-emergency-braking-proposed-rule

 

[kbuicker]

Mine braked the other day when an 18-wheeler decided to abruptly change lanes in front of me and cut me off (I was in the center lane). It didn't go unreported to his company; just a stupid move on his part. I was proud of it! Sorry for your instance, I remember my Honda Accord used to do that too. Scary.

 

[Grumpy2]

Automatic braking is one of the reasons I wanted a new car. But it is the "hands-free Blue Cruise" that is my worry and I think too premature.

I hope Ford aggressively investigates this event to determine it wasn't a software or sensor failure .

 

[TaxmanHog]

Was there a large amount of insects in the area you passed through, swarm?

I wonder if the adaptive cruise radar might have picked them up and adjusted speed, why 35 and not a dead stop is curious though, unless they swarm quickly dissipated.

I began covering the accelerator pedal, had a couple incidents on I-495 north approaching Mass RT-2, I had intelligent adaptive cruise turned on, but after a couple of incidents, I began covering the accelerator in the known trouble zone, then pushed it to maintain my set speed rather than the truck trying to slow down (65 to 50) where the sign is located in the isolated slip-ramp section, granted a modest 15 mph is not as threatening, but the way some folks tailgate around here, it could have been a problem.

Be ready to accelerate or brake as circumstance might present.

Since those few incidents, I turned of the sign reading [intelligent] feature, but after reading about your experience, I'll remain vigilant.

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