Some Ford Owners Are Now Getting This Big BlueCruise Hands-Free Upgrade
Table Of Content
However, what the small, new cruise ship lacks in size, it makes up for in style. If you’re looking for a more intimate cruising experience, with fewer crowds and more peace and quiet, you’ll find it here. We've seen hands-free highway assist systems arrive on cars from Nissan, for example. The all-electric Ariya can do the same lane- and speed-holding as BlueCruise, though currently lane maneuvers are completed manually. Today, the company is announcing BlueCruise 1.3, dropping just a few months after the 1.2 release, which added niceties like automatic lane changes.
Ford preps for its next big fight, Waymo recalls its self-driving car software and layoffs come for another AV startup - TechCrunch
Ford preps for its next big fight, Waymo recalls its self-driving car software and layoffs come for another AV startup.
Posted: Sun, 18 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Viking Saturn (Viking Cruises)
Ford is on a quest to ensure that its drivers keep their hands off the wheel for as long as possible. News of this enhancement was heralded on several internet forums for both abovementioned electric vehicles, though Jim Farley, Ford’s president and CEO, also announced the technology’s introduction on Twitter. When you choose to apply (and are approved) for a new credit card through our site, we may receive compensation from our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear.
Caribbean and Bahamas on MSC Meraviglia and Carnival Venezia from NYC
That, for example, could already change lanes for you without the system deactivating; these days, it can automatically do so if you find yourself stuck behind slower traffic. GM's system can also be used in towing situations, and the automaker boasts more than 200,000 miles of compatible roads. Both Ford and GM are working on versions of their tech that can do unsupervised Level 3 highway driving, though for the moment that's still beyond either Super Cruise or BlueCruise. Thanks to the sheer breadth of available data, the system can be simulated in various situations, with modifiers like traffic types, trip length, geographic location, and more.
Ford BlueCruise v1.2 Review: Hands-Off Highway Driving Gains Some Impressive New Skills
Nonetheless, highway driving is a chore, and I undoubtedly feel more comfortable at the end of it with a system like BlueCruise to support me. The challenge — as with most advanced driver assistance — is ensuring attention without nagging so aggressively that it's not worth having the tech turned on. Back in 2022, Ford released its proprietary hands-free highway driving software, BlueCruise. While BlueCruise can't completely take over the highway driving experience from the actual driver, its sensibly-designed systems can handle the brunt of some of its more mindless tasks. Earlier this year, BlueCruise was refined further with the release of its version 1.2 update, but Ford hasn't been resting on its laurels since then.
For an options package on a near-future Ford consumer vehicle, affordability will be key. “If you opt in, you share data every time, for example, during hands-free you take over and you control the vehicle yourself, or if the vehicle kicks you out and says ‘Please take over again,'” Omari said. “Going from a quarterly release to a weekly release is obviously a lot of tooling, and also a lot of mindset changes,” Omari said. Today, Ford’s focus is less on gathering requirements and more about addressing customer feedback.
The system is run through all of these simulations, allowing engineers to swiftly determine what's working, what's not working, and where they can innovate further with additional updates, tweaks, and features. Ford continues to incrementally improve BlueCruise, its adaptive cruise control system with hands-free capability. On Thursday, the Dearborn-based automaker announced a version 1.3 update is in the works, which will be included in new Mustang Mach-E SUVs starting this summer, but that’s not all. From June through December, Carnival Venezia will sail one eight-day Bahamas voyage that includes Nassau, Freeport and Half Moon Cay, with prices starting from $484 per person for an inside cabin. During that time, the vessel is also scheduled to run five eight-day Eastern Caribbean cruises calling on Amber Cove, Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay, with fares starting at $684 per person for an inside cabin.
It's no secret that American Queen Voyages has been sailing U.S. rivers for years. But what makes this particular itinerary special is that it will be the line's longest ever. The 23-day cruises, which include travel on both the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, will be offered on the line's newest ship, the 245-passenger American Countess.
The ship will offer all-balcony staterooms across five categories, two pools, a handful of dining venues and a handful of entertainment venues. Despite all the hype around autonomous driving, the reality is that we're still a long way from cars that can operate themselves completely. Tap the turn signal — you don't have to press it all the way, and if you do, it won't auto-cancel once the lane change maneuver is complete — and a "Preparing lane change" message appears. A second or two later, assuming there's nothing in the adjacent lane, and BlueCruise moves across. Another graphic showing the direction of the maneuver appears while that's happening. From behind the wheel of a 2023 Mustang Mach-E Select, though, I'd say it's worth the wait.
Icon of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)
Since the release of BlueCruise 1.2, Ford engineers have been working on the next iteration of the system, looking to improve its performance and consistency. According to Sammy Omari, pre-release testing of the updated system has produced good results. That functionality will require not only new levels of hardware to enable, but also a more refined, more thoroughly integrated software stack, too. “It’s basically understanding where our customers largely [are] using the vehicles, and then expanding in those areas,” he said. Perhaps in a nod to Doug Field, Ford’s chief advanced product development and technology officer, hired from Apple in 2022, Omari says that Ford is also looking to Cupertino for inspiration.
Ford announced today that it’s expanding the availability of its BlueCruise hands-free driving tech. Previously, customers had to decide whether to add the option on available models at purchase — and that decision was final. In addition to enabling it at purchase, owners can add the service later or only activate it for months when needed (like for road trips). That's not to say it's perfect — and, given all of these systems are Level 2 despite being hands-off, there's no claim that you can stop paying attention — and highway lane shifts can still cause some fumbles. The change from two to three lanes, for example (or vice-versa), can cause BlueCruise issues at times, though the system is swift to resume once you're back to more predictable roads.
Ford's system feels like a sensible, fairly conservative driver from behind the wheel. There's a definite pause, as BlueCruise does the positioning math, and it's enough to miss narrower gaps that human drivers might feel confident taking advantage of in order to get out from behind a slow-moving truck. On the plus side, even if you're adjacent to said truck when you hit the turn signal, BlueCruise will generally wait for a gap to clear rather than instantly canceling the move.
The new version will allow BlueCruise to stay engaged while vehicles round tighter bends than before, and will also position a vehicle more precisely in narrower lanes, reports TechCrunch. Later this season, BlueCruise 1.3 will also be delivered to 2021 to 2023 Mach-E’s already on the road thanks to a Ford Power-Up over-the-air software update. It hasn’t been confirmed, but existing F-150 Lighting pickup trucks will almost certainly receive the same enhancement at some point, hopefully sooner than later.
Just a few short months later, Ford is already getting ready for the next major BlueCruise update, and some lucky drivers will get to experience it for free. The ship will offer 75 GRT per passenger, making it one of the most spacious cruise ships in the world in terms of space afforded to each passenger. The team started by looking at data from vehicles in the field, and Ford’s software engineers tried to tackle moments when BlueCruise asks the driver to take over driving duties. By focusing on those moments, Ford can allow drivers to spend more times with their hands off the wheel. Omari said that BlueCruise 1.3 is three times better than 1.2, and five times better than 1.0 in terms of driver interventions.
Comments
Post a Comment