BlueCruise = lane assist and adaptive cruise control?

[Snakebitten]

I don't think it's possible for adaptive cruise control, that we currently have in the latest vehicles, could possibly have advanced this far without enormous amounts of testing and collected field data.

I do agree that there's still much to be improved. But in most driving conditions that I experience daily, Adaptive Cruise in both my 2022 F150 and 2018 EV are amazing compared to a decade ago. I just have to understand their limitations and not transfer accountability to them.

I'm sitting in the pilot's chair. I am accountable, even if I've engaged autopilot.

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[HammaMan]

I think the current implementation is rather poor for modern standards. It seems to dither quite a bit. Just a guess but I'd bet there's a rather poor hand written algo handling sensor fusion and smoothing. Take a vehicle merge over for instance. The system acts like there is no car merging until enough of the variables click, then the braking instructions drop into a hard code where distance is too close and it immediately demands hard braking on a scale that was acted upon too late.

The braking is clunky / panicky unnecessarily as if it can't factor curves, only lines. There's better refinement in the MME's 1 pedal braking logic than is seen in the cruise system. When using 1 pedal and coming to a stop, they've programmed in a slight pause of braking right before coming to a stop to unload the suspension just as any seasoned driver knows to do. The cruise system is slightly better in the max regen mode until the braking demand includes the friction brakes, due in part to the regen braking algo which is a different animal than when friction braking is called for. As such the guys that coded regen in the MME need to be the ones working on the logic behind the radar cruise braking.

While I'd prefer to hear ford has trashed their code for this system and instead used a machine learning model, I think it's beyond the current team's capability. They can't even unify the device functionality across discrete part numbers -- part numbers that shouldn't be diverging at the core level in the manner they are. Even if they desire to have a 'high' and 'low' feature set of an IPMA, the same software should be able to load onto it. They're unnecessarily creating loads of additional work for themselves for no logical reason what so ever. Nothing screams insanity worse than saving a couple million $ cheaping out on hardware only to spend 3-4x as much trying to unify the operation of the devices in software expenses while overpromising customers and under delivering.

 

[4dRunningMan]

Ford's nomenclature is poor. If a vehicle has bluecruise equipped, ford considers all lane centering to be "bluecruise". The hands free mode will turn on automatically in approved areas, typically interstates with clearly marked lines.

If you're unsure of what your truck came with, check the sticker.
- Co pilot 360 active is bluecruise
- Assist 2.0 has no hands-free capability from the factory, but the comma 3x can still be added which makes bluecruise look its 4yr age. Both have the same underlying code for operation so neither is 'better' than the other.

Don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I was unable to get Bluecruise activated on an approved interstate after having lane assist and adaptive cruise enabled. I looked at my window sticker and it says, "FORD CO-PILOT360 ASSIST 2.0". From what you're saying, I do NOT have hands-free capability? What is comma 3x? And how would I add it?

 

[tbinmd]

Don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I was unable to get Bluecruise activated on an approved interstate after having lane assist and adaptive cruise enabled. I looked at my window sticker and it says, "FORD CO-PILOT360 ASSIST 2.0". From what you're saying, I do NOT have hands-free capability? What is comma 3x? And how would I add it?

Correct, you do not have bluecruise (i.e. hands free)

This is what 2.0 includes.

Ford Co-Pilot Assist 2.0, even more
While the basic system is effective, Ford has decided to make the experience even safer by offering an optional, more comprehensive version of the system. Called Co-Pilot Assist 2.0, it adds advanced driver assistance features.

The features offered by this addition are even more spectacular. They include traffic sign recognition, which makes driving more enjoyable.

Additional features include:

• Intelligent adaptive cruise control with stop-start capability
• Lane Keeping Assist
• Speed sign recognition
• Steering assistance during evasive maneuvers
• Intersection assistance
• Navigation system with touch screen and voice command

 

[4dRunningMan]

Correct, you do not have bluecruise (i.e. hands free)

This is what 2.0 includes.

Ford Co-Pilot Assist 2.0, even more
While the basic system is effective, Ford has decided to make the experience even safer by offering an optional, more comprehensive version of the system. Called Co-Pilot Assist 2.0, it adds advanced driver assistance features.

The features offered by this addition are even more spectacular. They include traffic sign recognition, which makes driving more enjoyable.

Additional features include:

• Intelligent adaptive cruise control with stop-start capability
• Lane Keeping Assist
• Speed sign recognition
• Steering assistance during evasive maneuvers
• Intersection assistance
• Navigation system with touch screen and voice command

Ok, that's helpful - thank you! Is there a way to "download" the hands-free option to the vehicle?

 

[Snakebitten]

No sir.
You would also need some hardware. Namely the eye scanning hardware, at least.

 

[4dRunningMan]

No sir.
You would also need some hardware. Namely the eye scanning hardware, at least.

I see, and that would probably cost and arm and a leg. Thanks for clearing all this up guys!

 

[Snakebitten]

Just enjoy the version of Bluecruise you do have. The "keep your hands on the wheel version". Your truck does have that already. And you still can take your hands off the wheel for a few seconds at a time to clap to a song, telling yourself it's pretty much the same thing anyway. Only without the nagging to keep your eyes on the road.

 

[4dRunningMan]

Just enjoy the version of Bluecruise you do have. The "keep your hands on the wheel version". Your truck does have that already. And you still can take your hands off the wheel for a few seconds at a time to clap to a song, telling yourself it's pretty much the same thing anyway. Only without the nagging to keep your eyes on the road.

Yeah, by far, still very happy with my truck! It's been a long time since I had a full size p-up. My last one was a brand new 2001 Dodge Ram - loved it too!

 

[PaulGrun]

Just to add to the insights already provided in this thread here's how I visualize it.
I think of the features included as part Co-Pilot Assist 2.0 as being some of the building blocks on which Co-Pilot Active (Bluecruise) is built. Specifically:
- Lane Centering (not to be confused with Lane Keeping which is an entirely separate feature), which is the steering component and,
- Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) which is the throttle and braking component
These two together are nice features but combined are not enough to give you true 'hands free' aka Bluecruise. Co-Pilot Assist 2.0 requires you to keep your hands on the wheel. it will bark at you if it hasn't felt your loving touch on the wheel every so often.
To get full 'hands free' (ie Bluecruise), several other pieces are layered on top of those two foundational building blocks:
- a 'nanny cam' which watches your face to make sure you haven't nodded off, and
- integration with mapping software since Bluecruise is only valid on certain specific roads.
So to get Bluecruise, the truck had to be ordered with it since it requires additional hardware (e.g. the nanny cam built into the A pillar), and you have to pay a hefty subscription fee (discounts have been available). And it only allows hands free on certain roads.
All the above may or may not be exactly how Bluecruise is actually implemented, but it's a useful model to conceptualize how it works.

 

[HammaMan]

These two together are nice features but combined are not enough to give you true 'hands free' aka Bluecruise.

Actually they are. Ford wants to use the nanny cam. Tesla doesn't. There's a million or so teslas that don't even have a radar using vision strictly. Hell they removed ultrasonic parking sensors as well again reverting to vision.

Not all is lost though. Both assist 2.0 and active users can use a comma 3x to enable a superior ADAS system with no yearly fees or 'gated' hands-free restrictions, and it also uses machine learning to provide a superior level of driving capability -- and updates frequently.

 

[PaulGrun]

Now, a few random thoughts and opinions.
I rented a Toyota Corolla the other day, and found its version of Lane Centering much better IMHO than Ford's version. It unobtrusively went about the business of keeping the car centered in the lane versus my F-150 with which I feel like I am constantly arguing. My Ford seems to have a much different idea than i do about what constitutes 'centering'. Maybe it's a calibration issue, I dunno ... i haven't taken the time to investigate. I turn it off about half the time.
Next, I can't prove it, but I bet my bottom dollar that Ford buys these features from third party vendors, it doesn't develop them in house. Because of that, there are obvious weaknesses in the way these features are tested, bugged, and validated. Especialy when it comes to bug fixes and updates.
And last, features like Lane Centering are now almost derigeur standard equipment. The last two rentals (the mid tier Corolla and an econobox Kia) both had it ... and both seemed to work better than Ford's.
Don't misconstrue - I love my XLT 302a. But I also think they need to up their game particularly in software engineering (design, debug, validation, and cofigurative management). These are the basic tools of software engineering.

 

[4dRunningMan]

Ok, so how do I know if my truck has lane centering or lane keeping assist?

 

[HammaMan]

Now, a few random thoughts and opinions.
I rented a Toyota Corolla the other day, and found its version of Lane Centering much better IMHO than Ford's version. It unobtrusively went about the business of keeping the car centered in the lane versus my F-150 with which I feel like I am constantly arguing. My Ford seems to have a much different idea than i do about what constitutes 'centering'. Maybe it's a calibration issue, I dunno ... i haven't taken the time to investigate. I turn it off about half the time.
Next, I can't prove it, but I bet my bottom dollar that Ford buys these features from third party vendors, it doesn't develop them in house. Because of that, there are obvious weaknesses in the way these features are tested, bugged, and validated. Especialy when it comes to bug fixes and updates.
And last, features like Lane Centering are now almost derigeur standard equipment. The last two rentals (the mid tier Corolla and an econobox Kia) both had it ... and both seemed to work better than Ford's.
Don't misconstrue - I love my XLT 302a. But I also think they need to up their game particularly in software engineering (design, debug, validation, and cofigurative management). These are the basic tools of software engineering.

I found that raising the fender height value in forscan followed up with a recalibration has the truck behaving much better as well as keeping lane centering engaged on roads it previously wouldn't. I want to play with this further.

 

[HammaMan]

Ok, so how do I know if my truck has lane centering or lane keeping assist?

post a pic of your steering wheel.

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