Blue Cruise vs Lane Centering + ACC

[oneinch]

I’ve been wondering if BC is such a big difference from what I have now to make it worth the upgrade as the minimum Lariat PB configuration that would have BC is 74k.

No. It won't be. When you say BlueCruise, I going to assume you're wanting hands-free. I'm also guessing that you don't know you already have hands-free driving right now. You do....with a super easy hack.

With BlueCruise hands-free, the truck is steered with the lane centering system. All you need to do is weight the steering wheel to fool the truck into believing you have your hands on the wheel. Do this and you'll have the hands-free experience on any road the truck will allow lane centering to work. Mapped roads be damned. This little hack will have a one time charge of $15 or less. You may already have what you need. Sure beats a recurring $$$ subscription. The hack arguably works just as well as the real deal.

I use this hack in my Maverick. BlueCruise isn't offered in this little jewel, yet I drive hands-free in it daily. My F150 has BlueCruise and I still use this hack. Why? BlueCruise mapped roads have many no hands-free sections. Use this hack in conjunction with BlueCruise and you can cruise hands-free through almost all of these sections. This hack is the best thing since sliced bread.

Watch the super simple hack in action here. This is demonstrated on a highway that will not be mapped for hands-free (at least not currently).

No Safety Sally comments. Hack at your own risk. You're a grown assed man. Even with BlueCruise hands-free, always be ready to grab the wheel. Now go drive with no ?.

I use this weight.

Sponsored

 

[Spiffy]

In theory Ford could enable traffic control sign recognition. Both systems are tied into the nav's database which is done by a 3rd party. You've probably seen its influence by phantom speed changes with no speed limit sign present. I went to the DB and modified areas around here where both systems will at times change speed w/ no signs present. They have to approve changes submitted which can take months. It takes even longer to propagate out to the nav.

The problem with ford though is they're overly cautious with the system. While I don't suspect it's got the horsepower to perform local road turns, it can certainly self-lane change for the purposes of interstate splits when navigating, and stop and go at stop lights and stop signs (both in that the DB has the variables present and the camera can see them). The 2024 hardware 'will' be capable of this (local road turns) with higher resolution sensors. The vehicles already have dead reckoning in them in that on loss of GPS they can keep track by counting wheel revolutions, among other things.

The limiting factor for ford, not just on what we've seen out of them, but by their own admission, will be software. They just don't treat themselves like a tech company. I'd like to think by moving over to android to power the system they're moving in the right direction. They can then rely on more 3rd party options if something comes up that's a real value add, it won't be stonewalled by having to be coded to some proprietary mess ford has made.

You have a handle on this. My experience as a experimental aircraft avionics hack is the system is fully in place to do with autos as is done with airplanes. Garmin for example is a major player in autopilot. Currently there is a dozen or more satellites we use along with ground based reckoning. I can pinpoint my position in 3D space 5 inches! Where this becomes critical is during a approach to land. The autopilot during landing has to be extremely accurate and has to have several back ups. Dead reckoning is available if for some reason we lose sat signal. Not very likely. If for example something not right at 6 feet above the ground the system goes into fail safe. Plane pitches up and goes into missed approach mode. Meaning it goes to a predetermined spot in space and holds with race track circles at predetermined altitude.
While the Garmin navigation system only provided navigation and steering commands it requires a third party controller to execute the physical commands. That's where I got my training in avionics. I was a alpha beta tester for a company called trutrak. They manufactured autopilot systems for the experimental industry.
Super huge industry. The software guru's would write some code and I woukd apply it and try to break it. I'm telling you I had many many hair rasing situations. I built my plane to withstand full stop to stop control inputs at full speed so when things didn't go as planned I wouldn't rip the wings off. Early days were exciting!
I'm also thinking that ford is being overly cautious. They have at their disposal all the data points to control the truck. Every hy way road could be a blue cruise road if they want. Speed sign reckoning is not what they want us to believe. The signs are just a notification for us. The database already has the speed.
The current system that ford and others are using are really pretty simple and lack tru AI. The processing power to recognize and react to lights, ice, stop signs, road construction signs and any other variables not in a data base is enormous.
I think ford partnering up with android (Google) for advanced think power is in the cards. As you said ford is not a tech company. The advancement is going to come from third party. This third party will develop systems that all the car manufacturers will have access to. Depends on how much each one pays on how much they can use.
Ford will continue to develop the hardware and controllers and processors but will rely on third party software.
I use some of the most advanced auto pilot tools every day and autos pale in comparison. All the data is there. The infrastructure is available but the hardware to compute is beyond cost effective.
A base Garmin navigator with output steering commands cost tens of thousands. And couple that with a autopilot control systems. (Roll, pitch, yaw, throttle servos) with force feedback and for several thousands more. That's just the experimental models. Not fma pma approved. Certified stuff for commercial planes are 5 times more expensive.. Us experimental guys get a break on cost so it's cheaper when we kill ourselves. Lol
The next few years will be amazing for AI control driving.

 

[oneinch]

I went to the DB and modified areas around here where both systems will at times change speed w/ no signs present.

How do you do this? There are places like this in my parts. There's a couple of places that are 55 mph and the speed suddenly changes to 35 and 25 mph. The camera picks up parallel side road signs.

 

[Spiffy]

How do you do this? There are places like this in my parts. There's a couple of places that are 55 mph and the speed suddenly changes to 35 and 25 mph. The camera picks up parallel side road signs.

I'm not so sure the camera is being used at all. The posted speed is in a database. For example. We had a snow storm and all the speed signs were covered. The moment I passed one the advised speed on the cluster showed the new speed. Camera did not do that.
When you activate speed sign reckoning you really are asking the truck to adjust your speed based on data base info.
Also I had a part of a road that had temporary speed signs due to construction up ahead. The truck didn't respond.
That's what I think.

 

[oneinch]

I believe speed recognition is a combination of both geolocation and visual, but just like hand sanitizer, I'm only 99.9% sure. Regardless, I'd like to be able to edit this. Years ago I could do this on my TomTom. My changes would be uploaded for review for the masses, but they were immediately effective for my device (even if the changes were never approved). I could even edit out roads I didn't want the device to use; i.e., the Washington Crossing Bridge across the Delaware is way too narrow for trucks and I never want to be routed over it.

 

[dolsen]

I'm not so sure the camera is being used at all. The posted speed is in a database. For example. We had a snow storm and all the speed signs were covered. The moment I passed one the advised speed on the cluster showed the new speed. Camera did not do that.
When you activate speed sign reckoning you really are asking the truck to adjust your speed based on data base info.
Also I had a part of a road that had temporary speed signs due to construction up ahead. The truck didn't respond.
That's what I think.

My truck has responded to covered signs and temp signs. Because of that, I *assumed* both the GPS location AND the camera work in tandem.

 

[Zemonsty]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. What I am gathering is that at this point the difference between hands free vs hands-on steering assist technology (LC + ACC) is not much different to warrant the upgrade alone. I have tried to go to my local dealership to try out BC but the sales people know very little about BC, they are saying that is still has not been released, which is inaccurate. I believe the cars at the dealership do not have it active until it is sold, that would be a better explanation than “it has not been released”.

I have seen videos from review channels they were test BlueCruise and it seems really cool when it works, but I have not found a video that compares the hands-free vs hands-on steering and it the price Ford is asking for is worth the price of admission.

 

[Spiffy]

My truck has responded to covered signs and temp signs. Because of that, I *assumed* both the GPS location AND the camera work in tandem.

I wonder how fast the temp signs are entered into a database. Like road construction. Google has real-time data on traffic as it steals location data from our phones. I have passed construction sites where a new speed is clearly posted and the speed change on the cluster didn't change. I also have passed through a lengthy time construction zone where the speed showed reduced speed that updated on my cluster. I'm not sold on camera based speed recognition. Me thinks it's in the database.

 

[HammaMan]

It uses both the camera and the GPS data (database). This is why you see it respond to signs (camera) and randomly do dumb shit (DB).

Here.com is the DB

We have a couple digital radar signs here that tell you YOUR SPEED. The camera will read these 9/10 times and adjust to the nearest 5 mph increment w/ out exceeding it. so 37 mph indicated by the sign goes to 35 in the truck, but plus 10 because of set limits. So by doing 37 in a 30 zone, the vehicle then bumps to 45. It's got room for improvement.

 

[Nasto]

No. It won't be. When you say BlueCruise, I going to assume you're wanting hands-free. I'm also guessing that you don't know you already have hands-free driving right now. You do....with a super easy hack.

With BlueCruise hands-free, the truck is steered with the lane centering system. All you need to do is weight the steering wheel to fool the truck into believing you have your hands on the wheel. Do this and you'll have the hands-free experience on any road the truck will allow lane centering to work. Mapped roads be damned. This little hack will have a one time charge of $15 or less. You may already have what you need. Sure beats a recurring $$$ subscription. The hack arguably works just as well as the real deal.

I use this hack in my Maverick. BlueCruise isn't offered in this little jewel, yet I drive hands-free in it daily. My F150 has BlueCruise and I still use this hack. Why? BlueCruise mapped roads have many no hands-free sections. Use this hack in conjunction with BlueCruise and you can cruise hands-free through almost all of these sections. This hack is the best thing since sliced bread.

Watch the super simple hack in action here. This is demonstrated on a highway that will not be mapped for hands-free (at least not currently).

No Safety Sally comments. Hack at your own risk. You're a grown assed man. Even with BlueCruise hands-free, always be ready to grab the wheel. Now go drive with no ?.

I use this weight.

Just to confirm......you went with the 1 lb weight?

 

[oneinch]

Just to confirm......you went with the 1 lb weight?

Yes. Utilizing the Velcro strap on this weight works, but I found it much more convenient to use a "carabineer" type hook instead. I drape it loosely on the wheel. The tighter it is wrapped around the wheel the less weight it applies. I find that loose works best in my truck. You're mileage may vary. When I get to roads where lane centering won't work and where I have to turn the wheel a lot, I remove the hack.

1 lb is 1 lb. Depending on where you position the weight determines how much radial torque you apply to the wheel. 1 lb at 3:00 applies more torque than 1 lb at 6:00.

 

[Nasto]

Yes. Utilizing the Velcro strap on this weight works, but I found it much more convenient to use a "carabineer" type hook instead. I drape it loosely on the wheel. The tighter it is wrapped around the wheel the less weight it applies. I find that loose works best in my truck. You're mileage may vary. When I get to roads where lane centering won't work and where I have to turn the wheel a lot, I remove the hack.

1 lb is 1 lb. Depending on where you position the weight determines how much radial torque you apply to the wheel. 1 lb at 3:00 applies more torque than 1 lb at 6:00.

Sweet. Thanks! Looking for the same hook, but can't quite find a match. Does this work or is there a better one? https://tinyurl.com/Nite-Ize-LSB3-01-R6-S-Biner

 

[oneinch]

Looking for the same hook

I bought it at Home Depot. It came with 5 or 6 smaller hooks for keys. I think it was $5-$10. Worth it to me.

I bought this at Home Depot.

Here's the Home Depot listing.

 

[superfordman]

Here is a little video proof of my "Blue" weight cruise. I still can't believe how good this works everywhere I go, almost too good for the most part as it drives better than I can most of the time. If I'm on long stretches of highway, I'm using it, only have to take it off for turns and to get around town.

 

[oneinch]

Here is a little video proof of my "Blue" weight cruise. I

Exactly. If you have lane centering you have hands-free....with a simple hack. Isn't it grand?

Sponsored