BlueCruise hands free is truly hands free. You do not need to keep hands on the wheel at all. It can steer on its own and handle the throttle. It will not change lanes without the driver signaling. It just keeps going forward in its lane at the set speed subject to the car in front.
It uses the radar, GPS, laser highway maps, and the car’s camera system to do the driving.
There is a camera directly behind the wheel monitoring the driver at all times. You don’t need your hands on the wheel but if you look away for more than a few seconds it will disengage.
Also notice I mentioned laser highway mapping. It is only available on premapped divided highways that have no crossings, only on ramps and off ramps. Some areas will not be supported when they have otherwise would be due to a sharp bend or the number of cars entering and leaving the road there, or if the sensor data doesn’t match the maps (construction/etc).
I’d say it’s a very well designed system from a safety perspective. It does its best to ensure it only runs when it’s capable in areas pre-determined to be within its capabilities.
But it’s still level 2. The human has to be engaged.
If the car in front of it was driving like normal and swerved away from the stopped CRV late, the Ford wouldn’t have even known that CRV was there until the other car swerved out of the way. I’m not aware of any ADAS system that can interpret what a sudden swerve might mean. And no system has radar that can safely detect a stopped vehicle.
This is a situation it was never designed to handle and why the driver is required to pay attention the whole time.
If it was on at the time then either the human was paying attention and didn’t do anything or they had very recently looked away. Unfortunately at TX highway speeds a few seconds is a lot of ground.
It uses the radar, GPS, laser highway maps, and the car’s camera system to do the driving.
There is a camera directly behind the wheel monitoring the driver at all times. You don’t need your hands on the wheel but if you look away for more than a few seconds it will disengage.
Also notice I mentioned laser highway mapping. It is only available on premapped divided highways that have no crossings, only on ramps and off ramps. Some areas will not be supported when they have otherwise would be due to a sharp bend or the number of cars entering and leaving the road there, or if the sensor data doesn’t match the maps (construction/etc).
I’d say it’s a very well designed system from a safety perspective. It does its best to ensure it only runs when it’s capable in areas pre-determined to be within its capabilities.
But it’s still level 2. The human has to be engaged.
If the car in front of it was driving like normal and swerved away from the stopped CRV late, the Ford wouldn’t have even known that CRV was there until the other car swerved out of the way. I’m not aware of any ADAS system that can interpret what a sudden swerve might mean. And no system has radar that can safely detect a stopped vehicle.
This is a situation it was never designed to handle and why the driver is required to pay attention the whole time.
If it was on at the time then either the human was paying attention and didn’t do anything or they had very recently looked away. Unfortunately at TX highway speeds a few seconds is a lot of ground.