Ford BlueCruise is now only available as a monthly subscription

[Senzelian]

Summary

Ford's autonomous Level 2+ self driving tech called "BlueCruise" is now only available for new cars through a subscription. BlueCruise used to be offered as a one time purchase at the moment of purchasing the car. The hardware necessary for BlueCruise would then be installed into the car. If BlueCruise was not chosen as an option it would not be possible anymore to later upgrade the car.

 

Now Ford announced that they will install the necessary hardware in most new cars as standard. You can now either purchase a subscription at the time of purchasing the car or upgrade to a BlueCruise subscription later down the road.

 

Quotes

Quote

 Ford owners can decide to activate the Level 2 driver-assist feature after buying their car as a $75 a month or $800 a year subscription

 

Quote

Previously, customers had to decide at the dealership whether they wanted to purchase a new Ford vehicle with BlueCruise hardware installed — and they couldn’t go back and change their minds if they opted not to include it. Now, the hardware will come standard on many new vehicles, and customers can decide at any time whether they want to activate it. Most notably, they can choose to pay for it as a monthly or annual subscription.

 

Quote

Ford says, at present, 225,000 vehicles are equipped with BlueCruise. And it projects that an additional 500,000 vehicles will have it by the end of 2024.

 

My thoughts

As a owner of a Ford car this saddens me. I was hoping that they might not jump onto the same bandwagon as BMW and other car manufacturers.

Also what happens when Ford decides that this version of BlueCruise is obsolete and they discontinue it? Will they unlock it for everyone or tell customers to buy a new car?

Either way I'm not liking this...

 

 

Sources

 https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/14/23831558/ford-bluecruise-hands-free-subscription-cost

[jaslion]

10 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

customers to buy a new car?

Rent a new car. Subscription services are all the rage right? Might as well do it for the entire car!

[ImorallySourcedElectrons]

Yeah, Ford ain't getting my money anymore if they do this shit.

[Applefreak]

27 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

Summary

Ford's autonomous Level 2+ self driving tech called "BlueCruise" is now only available for new cars through a subscription. BlueCruise used to be offered as a one time purchase at the moment of purchasing the car. The hardware necessary for BlueCruise would then be installed into the car. If BlueCruise was not chosen as an option it would not be possible anymore to later upgrade the car.

 

Now Ford announced that they will install the necessary hardware in most new cars as standard. You can now either purchase a subscription at the time of purchasing the car or upgrade to a BlueCruise subscription later down the road.

 

Quotes

 

 

 

My thoughts

As a owner of a Ford car this saddens me. I was hoping that they might not jump onto the same bandwagon as BMW and other car manufacturers.

Also what happens when Ford decides that this version of BlueCruise is obsolete and they discontinue it? Will they unlock it for everyone or tell customers to buy a new car?

Either way I'm not liking this...

 

 

Sources

 https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/14/23831558/ford-bluecruise-hands-free-subscription-cost

I'd want it the other way round then by having the choice to remove items from the feature list by not paying for them anymore. All the crap adaptive dampeners, light assist, rain sensor, EGR etc. should be subscriptions. Just give me a plain barebones car that won't go into limp mode because some sensor gimmick fails all the time. 

 

As for the sub model, self driving is still in alpha at best so a subscription model ensures you have to install updates for your safety and others. I don't like the general concept however and would have waited several more years for the tech to be actually ready. Currently self driving features are a costly upgrade. With a sub based model more and more people will have it that otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it. The good thing for Ford is that they now can get more detailed radar and lidar mapping for those that actually use the feature daily. My biggest issue with the whole concept is that you see people not having their hands on the wheel, doing other stuff while the car drives. I see a ton more accidents happening in the future, especially in city driving, which means more profit for insurance companies and of course Ford, because they need a new car after the accident and they probably won't spend it on a more expensive Tesla or Mercedes.

[WereCat]

I feel like this will make more people to try the drive assist but at the same time it will probably make more people find it pointless as it is in its current state.

[jaslion]

22 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

ensures you have to install updates for your safety and others

It can also simply say. Hey your versiom is out of date please update tp resume using this feature.

 

And if the device cant phone home for a bit to check they can just do what they do now and simply have a timer expire where the feature wont work till it can check for updates

 

24 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

My biggest issue with the whole concept is that you see people not having their hands on the wheel, doing other stuff while the car drives.

Thats literally how its beinf advertised indirectly. So no wonder people are doing this.

 

Its also not self driving in basically all cases and just driver assist to some degree. But well self driving sounds better

 

25 minutes ago, Applefreak said:

All the crap adaptive dampeners, light assist, rain sensor, EGR etc. should be subscriptions. Just give me a plain barebones car that won't go into limp mode because some sensor gimmick fails all the time. 

Those were a thing. Older cars had heaps of these features and simply turned em off if they sensed a defect and you could just drive on like normal

 

Now its all about ph no go service and give money

[Taf the Ghost]

While I find the subscription model for cars (and other high utility items) abhorrent, it also kind of pushes you further and further into only Leasing. Which might be the real point, in the end. Jailbreak and Phone Home Delete kits being a "thing" for cars is getting strange.

 

On the assisted driving tech, I'm still worried that while it might be net "safer" by some miles driven metric, in the rare occurrence events it's going to regularly be more dangerous because the driver is actually distracted since they've been lulled into a state of slow response times.

[WereCat]

2 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

On the assisted driving tech, I'm still worried that while it might be net "safer" by some miles driven metric, in the rare occurrence events it's going to regularly be more dangerous because the driver is actually distracted since they've been lulled into a state of slow response times.

When I'm not in control of the vehicle, I'm falling asleep... does not matter if I travel by a bus or a car. So I could never use drive assist as long as it's not fully self driving without having to intervene.

 

I'd like for the car companies to focus more on "usability" of the stuff they put in the cars. I feel like it's more dangerous to set up AC when driving rather than be on my phone because I have to stare on a dash board screen controlled by touch based UI that is made by someone who made main menu UI for new CoD.

[Applefreak]

37 minutes ago, jaslion said:

And if the device cant phone home for a bit to check they can just do what they do now and simply have a timer expire where the feature wont work till it can check for updates

Sure but the problem here is that if you bought the car with that feature, even if it's broke they would have to do a mass recall or settle in court, buy the car back etc. By simply disabling it it would devalue the car and might be a breach of contract as well. A simple subscription is way easier to control for them. Also that way they can collect more data on you, which surely is one of their goals or will be. 

[Applefreak]

24 minutes ago, WereCat said:

When I'm not in control of the vehicle, I'm falling asleep... does not matter if I travel by a bus or a car. So I could never use drive assist as long as it's not fully self driving without having to intervene.

Totally agree. Some emergency assist features in modern cars are actually pretty good to keep you awake and check on you. For those who drive 8 to 12 hours a day, that can be a lifesaver in some instances. The best invention though was the emergency brake assistant which increases pressure in the master cylinder for when you have to do an emergency stop. I know from experience. Also used to drive trucks for quite some time and there are advantages and disadvantages to those driving assists. The biggest advantage comes from the fact that modern rigs are quiet and almost drive themselves when fully automatic. The lack of driver input then makes for a very long day which adds to the risk being asleep behind the wheel. Older trucks as older cars, especially manual ones were harder to drive but I never felt like dozing off in the middle of the day. 

[TempestCatto]

2 hours ago, Senzelian said:

Now Ford announced that they will install the necessary hardware in most new cars as standard. You can now either purchase a subscription at the time of purchasing the car or upgrade to a BlueCruise subscription later down the road.

This seems so wasteful. Most people aren't gonna want another subscription for something they'll seldom use. The hardware could be used elsewhere in production, or to help make more of something the cars actually needs. Lexus currently has lots of cars, but most only come with one keyfob due to the "chip shortage". It's hardware that will sit there and do nothing. Maybe the next person that buys the car used will want it? But then by that point the hardware may be outdated and/or unsupported.

[AnonymousGuy]

I'm growing tired of literally everything becoming a subscription.    I like things that I don't have to think about anymore once they're "taken care of"...like one time purchases.

 

Quote

The lack of driver input then makes for a very long day which adds to the risk being asleep behind the wheel. 

It's really the opposite.  Long trips are far less tiring when you only need to deal with speed management on the scroll wheel and passing other cars ocassionally. I wouldn't have been able to do a 14 hour trip in one shot without autopilot helping.

[TempestCatto]

38 minutes ago, AnonymousGuy said:

It's really the opposite.  Long trips are far less tiring when you only need to deal with speed management on the scroll wheel and passing other cars ocassionally. I wouldn't have been able to do a 14 hour trip in one shot without autopilot helping.

Can confirm this. I hand delivered a car to Florida from PA (very special case) and although I took the autotrain down, I drove back up in the car they traded in. I stopped off in another state on the way back to visit family. But from there I drove strait through, 13 hours, and that was only possible because I didn't have near as much required from me while driving. Granted I was still tired after it all, but that's because I chose to drive only at night, so I hadn't slept in over 24 hours. Was a fun experience actually.

[grg994]

It looks like a prime opportunity to open a car shop now. Besides the classic "odometer calibration" and "improved emission report", now I could offer some cars a "software improvement tuning" too for some extra...

[Needfuldoer]

4 hours ago, jaslion said:

Rent a new car. Subscription services are all the rage right? Might as well do it for the entire car!

Did Silicon Valley reinvent the car lease?

[Quackers101]

wait for the angry hacker to release it for free, oh wait its not an always online title depending on servers and services to always function in every way possible? looks at john deere's tractors too

[ToboRobot]

If there is ongoing work and maintenance to maintain the backend of the system this may be reasonable but a subscription for baked in hardware is not.

If Ford has teams working on mapping and improving the service, that has value that isn't simply rent seeking.

[jaslion]

53 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Did Silicon Valley reinvent the car lease?

The icar is real

[rcmaehl]

Just buy a comma.ai unit. Who needs the proprietary non-sense anyway. My ford isn't currently supported but is in the works, and I'll definitely be adding it to my next vehicle purchase to save a few thousand (and probably a couple extra hundred a month)

[jagdtigger]

Buying used seems better and better by the day.....

(I already bought one so im safe from this BS for a while.)

[Radium_Angel]

There's one more reason I drive an old 308GT4...none of this electronic/tracking/pay me forever BS to impede the drive experience.

 

[rcmaehl]

9 minutes ago, micha_vulpes said:

1/5th of Americans essentially already do, with term leases.

Another portion also just trade up a car every 3-5 years, even though there is no need to do so, making their purchase essentially a term rental, and apply the remaining balance of the car to the next one in perpetual debt.

You don't understand. How will I get the new Robot Bulter (as seen in the 2032 Kia EV11) if I don't trade up to a newer car?

[SolarNova]

Sounds good to me.

 

An costly option that previously required hardware to be installed before working is now there by default and just requires a little time for a hacker to create a software 'fix' to get it for free. Win

 

[wanderingfool2]

That's what happens when you have to map each road that you have it run on (fun fact as well, iirc somewhere in the documentation it mentions that if it happens to be running at an intersection it will not be able to work on cross traffic).

 

Imagine the cost to Ford, they are licensing the technology already and also paying essentially for the high resolution scanning/training on each individual highway.

 

I don't think it justifies $800 for what essentially amounts to only highway driving though, if it could at least comfortably handle portions of regular roads it would be good; or maybe if it was hands free on all highways...instead of having tighter highway turns trigger a warning to take over.

 

Anyways, the premise of your post if false.  The only thing that really changed, is that it used to cost $600/3 year period...now it costs $2100/3 years, and you now have the option of $800/year or $75/month.  Before it was paying, and you would get the subscription for 3 years.  Nothing new here, BlueCruise was always a subscription service (just before it was more affordable)...even if it was news, this announcement came like 3 months ago.  Actually if you were just going to keep the car for 3 years, it works out cheaper than previous (previous because hardware wasn't included works out to about $1000/year if only intended to own for 3 years, at 6 years it would average $633/year...assuming renewal price was locked in)

 

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2021/04/14/ford-mother-of-all-road-trips-bluecruise-hands-free-driving.html

Quote

2021 F-150 and 2021 Mustang Mach-E customers will be able to purchase BlueCruise software – including a three-year service period – for $600 in the second half of 2021, when it’s ready to launch. Hardware pricing varies by vehicle.

Back in 2021; so yea nothing new to see here.  The only real new thing is it's being put in all vehicles (there's actually some rumors that they might be licensing from Tesla in the future, as Tesla mentioned their FSD was in talks to be licensed by a major player...but Ford is just a speculation)

 

Honestly, the bigger question is that people who already paid for the service if they will have to foot the higher monthly cost (if so I'd be ticked)

[Quackers101]

1 hour ago, micha_vulpes said:

I don't know or actually understand why people want so many gadgets in their cars.

if its about sensors and tech, its mostly around making the roads safer and handling sleeping/drunk drivers, so long its not abused.
but agree that there is a lot of wasteful tech added to cars now, that do less than what they did before, cost more, and have more issues long term.

Like repair, screens and software that is custom/locked, and a lot more.