Blue Cruise vs Lane Centering + ACC

[Zemonsty]

Hello all,

I tried to search the forums before posting this, but I could not locate one, please forgive me if this has been asked before and beaten to death, I would be happy to scan another thread if there is one and a link is provided.

I have an 21 XLT with Lane Centering, lane keep, and adaptive cc. When I first got it, I was told I would be able to get BC with an update, I even got an official email from Ford stating the same (back in 21). But as we all know by now, only Lariat and above with Active prep were elegible after the final announcement.

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.

For those of you who have BC or have had experience with both configurations, do you think the difference is worth the upgrade?

Thank you!

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[imnuts]

My opinion, BlueCruise 1.0 is nice, but not worth the subscription cost. I'd be fine with the lane centering and active cruise. I don't know if because 1.2 will change my mind, but probably not since I don't drive much on the highway in my truck.

If you like your truck otherwise, I wouldn't upgrade, especially coming from a '21 as you'll likely lose something feature-wise, even going to a higher trim level. Maybe see if anyone local to you with BlueCruise will let you test it out?

 

[dolsen]

I just traded in my lariat with lane centering + ACC (AKA co pilot assist) for a platinum with BC. I haven’t gotten to try out the BC yet but I haven’t heard much good about it relative to the co pilot assist. Most seem to complain that the nanny cam is very over sensitive to averting eyes

 

[Ajzride]

I’m not overly familiar with the XLT, but if it gets the same “lane centering” as a lariat then you are not missing much. With BC 1.0, lots of people (myself included) keep our hands on the wheel because you can’t trust it not to get too close the cars on either side of you.

 

[Spiffy]

BC 1.2 is worlds apart from 1.0.
It is rock solid in lane centering.
It goes into and out of active assist smoothly.
I had a drive yesterday where I had a mix of different hy ways. Traffic was crazy. I had a stretch of roads that were bc an acc . Couple lights. One light had 6 cars and the truck handles the stop and go great. One stop sign where the truck kept pace with the cars stopping. One thing I didn't like is the truck won't take turns. It stopped at sign and immediately started. Once up to original speed B,C kicked back in.
It's hard to explain but all the adaptive cruse, acc, BC worked flawlessly together. It's hard not to watch to use your breaks. Once you tap them everything turns off.
The way it works now I think I might pay the subscription.

 

[Spiffy]

Use these for screw with eye sensors

 

[antho]

BC 1.2 is worlds apart from 1.0.
It is rock solid in lane centering.
It goes into and out of active assist smoothly.
I had a drive yesterday where I had a mix of different hy ways. Traffic was crazy. I had a stretch of roads that were bc an acc . Couple lights. One light had 6 cars and the truck handles the stop and go great. One stop sign where the truck kept pace with the cars stopping. One thing I didn't like is the truck won't take turns. It stopped at sign and immediately started. Once up to original speed B,C kicked back in.
It's hard to explain but all the adaptive cruse, acc, BC worked flawlessly together. It's hard not to watch to use your breaks. Once you tap them everything turns off.
The way it works now I think I might pay the subscription.

@Spiffy
Are you saying your truck stopped at a stop sign while in blue cruise?

 

[Spiffy]

Yes. When you press the farthest left button on the wheel your engaging everything. Lane centering, active cruse, blue cruise. They all work together. The hiway I was on had blue cruse and had a stop light. I was in active blue cruise hands free with a ton if traffic. They all had to stop. My truck came to full stop. When the light changed and traffic resumed my truck followed and after a very short time blue cruise continued. I made a sweeping exit to a two lane road and active steering took over. Still on cruse control. The truck automatically slowed during the turn. I went 21 miles on different hiways with some kind of assistance. Mix of hands free and hands on but all under active cruise. Didn't touch the breaks once.

 

[HammaMan]

@Spiffy
Are you saying your truck stopped at a stop sign while in blue cruise?

No, blue cruise does not follow or acknowledge traffic control devices like stop signs and lights. Both systems will work with stop and go traffic.

 

[Spiffy]

You just said both systems work with stop and go traffic. But you first said no to BC. ???

All I know is I had BC on and came to stop light and the truck stopped and resumed going back into BC without intervention.
Maybe bc wasn't responsible for the stop but my point is all the systems are working together.

 

[Spiffy]

Oh just reread post. I'm sure the system is responding to traffic. Not the lights or signs. I know bc won't read lights. If I was the only person on the road and the light turned red I would have to take over and break but with traffic the system works .

 

[capiche87]

I have a 2023 PB Platinum with BC. If you are upgrading from an XLT to high trim Lariat for BC it’s probably going to cost you $15k difference to step up. I wouldn’t do that just for BC. It’s not worth it and that is what Elon charges for FSD lol.

BUT if you want the other extras that come with lariat high then it’s worth it for all the other features. If I were in your shoes, I would try to find a used lariat in 2021 or 2022 once BC 1.2 rolls out and pay the difference to upgrade, but I would only do it if you want the full lariat package. Otherwise I’d wait until the next F150 gen to come out.

Ford’s adaptive CC + LC is much better than other brands I have driven (Subaru, Honda, Toyota). I don’t think ford gets enough credit for it.

 

[HammaMan]

Oh just reread post. I'm sure the system is responding to traffic. Not the lights or signs. I know bc won't read lights. If I was the only person on the road and the light turned red I would have to take over and break but with traffic the system works .

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.

 

[HammaMan]

Hello all,

I tried to search the forums before posting this, but I could not locate one, please forgive me if this has been asked before and beaten to death, I would be happy to scan another thread if there is one and a link is provided.

I have an 21 XLT with Lane Centering, lane keep, and adaptive cc. When I first got it, I was told I would be able to get BC with an update, I even got an official email from Ford stating the same (back in 21). But as we all know by now, only Lariat and above with Active prep were elegible after the final announcement.

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.

For those of you who have BC or have had experience with both configurations, do you think the difference is worth the upgrade?

Thank you!

No, your XLT doesn't have the hardware for hands-free bluecruise. You need 2 more radar units (and have to wire them in), you also need the CMR Module, its driver camera, the 2 IR blasters and associated trim pieces. Once I get the radars up in my XLT (radars in-hand, brackets otw and harness construction has begun), I'm looking at adding the MME's CMR and its blasters / tracker which simplifies the process considerably. Granted I'd much rather spoof the eye vid feed to the CMR and remove the other hardware entirely.

 

[antho]

Oh just reread post. I'm sure the system is responding to traffic. Not the lights or signs. I know bc won't read lights. If I was the only person on the road and the light turned red I would have to take over and break but with traffic the system works .

Thanks for clarifying. Sounded like your truck was doing traffic light recognition with Mobile eye. I know that the IPMA picks up a lot of data but doesn’t do much with it at the moment. Lots of REM localization w/roadbooks etc.

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