Did Ford Just Overtake Tesla’s Self-Driving Tech?? 

As an American owner of a 2023 Mach-e it's interesting to see that Bluecruise operates differently here. In the US Bluecruise can change lanes. Simply press the indicator to tell the car which direction to go, it checks the surroundings for safety and switches lanes all on its own. It will even prompt the driver that a lane change is possible if the cruise is set to say 70mph but that car ahead is only going 55mph and the surroundings are clear it pings a little chime and message on the dash.

imagine having to use self driving systems around Italian roads

Nice to see Robert back doing the car reviews, let's hope it's a permanent feature.

Also confused. My 4year old Teslas model 3 does the same and will lane change too. Am I missing something?

My adaptive cruise and lane control do the same as this.

$200 a month !? They didn't overtake anything.

Ford's Geo Fencing is not the same technology as Tesla's Auto Pilot. It's comparing apples to oranges.

Nice tech. I wish Ford well with it. It's certainly ahead of Tesla getting on (some) roads in the UK. On that point, I attended your FCL show in Vancouver in September. I drove from Calgary in my Tesla Model 3 using FSD the whole way. It handled the highway, passing cars and even re-routed me when it saw construction had halted traffic. It also drove itself through Vancouver. I'd never been there in my Model 3 before either. Ford has a long way to go yet.

Thats great. The problem with Tesla's EAP (got it on model 3) that it basically doesn't work in Europe. Apart from requiribg hands on the wheel it also requires confirmation of lane change and it performs it with some hesitation which actually is confusing for the other drivers. It also performs the lane change first and then slowly accelerates - it is the opposite of assertive - which equals less safe.

Lexus hottest feature 20 years ago they called it adaptive cruise control + lane assist. When I had this I didn't pay an extra penny on a monthly basis so....... yeah

If nothing else it's another layer of safety. Thanks for your work!

Mach E on Autobahn? "Look Ma, no Hans!"

Great to have Robert back doing the car reviews!

That fact that Ford is charging a subscription for this level of tech is embarrassing. Adaptive cruise control combined with lane-keeping assist has be around for years.

Long answer short: No. Tesla FSD is quite literally so far ahead it's the difference between night and day. Ford has simply improved driver-assist, a vastly simpler challenge, and in no way comparable.

I've used this for around 1k total miles now, and it does work surprisingly well! I was also quite surprised how much more chill it was for long motorway drives. It's particularly great for stop start traffic too! It wasn't something I really considered when I bought the car though, so maybe the lack of expectations played a part in it being a neat addition? It's worth bearing in mind that the standard lane assists and whatnot don't require the subscription - it's the entirely (legal) hands free that's the extra bluecruise-y bit. As for the title - Tesla are still ahead in terms of raw tech, but Ford beat them to legal hands free in the UK. Which mostly boils down to playing ball with regulators.

You just came up with fords new slogan “when it works”. That pretty much sums everything up perfectly.

Besides not having to nudge the wheel every minute or so, I fail to see what's better about this than what's included (with no subscription) in the EV6 and Ioniq 5...

Only ONE things is being done better here. Ford’s only party trip here is hands off and eyes on under INCREDIBLY limited circumstances. It won’t even change lanes by itself on the motor to go around slower traffic or take an interchange.

This has nothing to do with Tesla FSD. With FSD you are at point A and you tell the car to go by itself to point B. No road type limitations. What you are demonstrating with the Mustang is called Autopilot by Tesla. It is available since day 1 at no additional charge and it works on all kinds of roads as well with obviously some limitations on winding roads. I use it every day since I bought my M3 4 years ago. The change lane assistance is an option. So, nothing miraculous, a kind of limited Autopilot 😊

The hands-on self-driving comes standard and it also really works very well. It looks like exactly the same but with hands on AND it also works on smaller roads, as long as there's decent markings. I totally agree that my main complaint is @6:33 where you change to a lane that's free ahead of you and it just jolts. That's even the case on the slowest car setting (Whisper). It also happens when everyone is in the overtaking lane and slow lane is empty. So being a good driver, I want to go in the slow lane as I'm done overtaking....then the car decides hey lets speed up race style to your set speed. It's dangerous as now you're illegally overtaking on the inside. Similarly, in bumper to bumper traffic, often working in accordion, the Mach-E will pedal to the metal when the guy in front of you takes off. And you know that there will be a stop soon so you do take over to not have an accident. It is really really frustrating that we cannot decide on aggressiveness. I love speed but being aggressive like that is irresponsible. Changing desired distance setting doesn't help at all for my first mentioned situation. In the second situation, the only way it will accelerate slower is if you're on max distance and that distance is so far that the car behind you will honk or think you're on the phone. If they can fix that it would be awesome. There's a bit too much babysitting otherwise. And a little annoyance I have is if you eg. set it at +5km/h compared to speed limit, it will adapt to the speed limit. So I'm set 120km/h + 5km/h. Suddenly there's a short section that goes to 100km/h. Does the Mach-E add the +5? Nope. They just disappear. You're there at 100, you have to manually change to 105. When it goes back to 120, again it stays at 120 instead of 125. These small babysitting adjustments are those make you almost not want to put it in. In simple assist mode I like how it helps you steer right in the middle. If you get a bit close to the lane it will gently turn the steering, feeling similar as if it's slightly banked pushing you back into the center. That also feels so natural and nice. If I can add one more thing I wish they would change. Charging has this smart feature where you can set when you leave for work and it will prepare your car for charging/heat etc. It can for example bypass the hours you let it charge so you get your set charge limit at the time of departure. Now, my work scheduling doesn't have any set time where I leave so I haven't set any, meaning it shouldn't prepare anything. I also still don't have any level 2 charging. I just charge at 1kW (enough for my needs). For some reason there's a code in the software that if your charging takes more than 24h to get to the set limit (80% for me) then it will bypass the hours you let it charge. I don't understand the logic. I have 0 scheduling set. I just charge slowly and it will say "charging outside of hours to meet scheduling" or something like that. This has lead me buy a mechanical timer so it cuts power outside of the hours. A bit annoying. But I love the car. Super fast. The slowest mode on the GT we have is even too fast at times. I wish there was a more gentle version.

So its an evolution of adaptive cruise and lane centering effectively. The difference with the adaptive cruise which is what I have in my 2016 Mondeo is that I need to keep my hands on the wheel (I'm doing the lane centering) and no subscription. I think its good that you can subscribe for a month at a time although for me I think it needs to perform the lane changing/overtaking itself to make it worth it and maybe joining / leaving the motorway as well. Hopefully Ford have fixed its confusion with a rising right hand bend which mine currently demonstrates. Generally this feels like we're back on track for evolution of these technologies rather than the revolution musk has been promising forever.

Very good, I use the Tesla auto pilot all the time on motorways and dual carriageways, its quite good and seems to be getting better with time, the bit I like best being the auto-lane changing, although my reactions are still very good, especially when on motorways its nice to have a second opinion from the car. Still have to keep a hand on the wheel, I would prefer to keep both hands on the wheel but it doesn’t like this as it seems to want a bit of tension / bias on the wheel which it doesn’t get dual handed. I’m very keen to see FSD arrive here in the UK but I imagine that will be quite a few years away.

Hello from Vancouver it was great to see you here

No, you can definitely control when it comes on--just turn off lane keeping and it's a normal adaptive cruise. Also, I don't know about the UK, but here in the USA, you can use self-driving on non-mapped roads, but you have to rest your hand on the wheel. My favorite time to use Blue Cruise is in really bad traffic. It handles the stop/go just fine, and driving in a traffic jam isn't fun at all. The rest of the time, I prefer to drive myself :-)

You answered the question in your headline yourself, right here: 4:47

So this is just hands free Active Cruise Control? I find in my RAV4 if I just put a bit of pressure on the steering wheel, e.g. rest my hand on the bottom it stays on for hours. Use it all the time and love it - you feel so refreshed after a long trip compared to accelerating/braking etc.

Our Mach-E will change lanes automatically using BlueCruise 1.2 when we use the signal - no need to put hands on the wheel. Works really well!

I think the title is untrue, at some point in time Ford will stop caring, and it will no longer be available, it's just a really good lane-keep assist. My Ranger had a good one too, but then it was nerfed by a software update 'cos people loved it so much. Teslas self driving is much larger at scale compared by what it does and how well it's integrated into driving and navigation.

It does need that solid white line on the sides. Something to keep in mind for the winter or heavy rains.

Paying a subscription, to be allowed to use an internal function, of the car itself, should be completely illegal! It's essentially selling you an intentionally broken product, and "allowing" you to pay, to get full access to the thing you've already paid for.

The trouble with Robert is he’s an under appreciator of Aygos and an under appreciator of appreciators of Aygos

I love this function on my Citroen C5, but I have to engage, albeit with one light finger, with the steering wheel. My wife's model Y Tesla is the same, except on the Tesla you have to re engage the system after each lane change, such hard work 😊

I am an owner of a Mach E (BC) and Tesla (FSD) here in Canada. Tesla FSD is light year advance than anyone else. Period. And I love my Mach E.

Thank you

The title asks, "did Ford just overtake Tesla’s self-driving tech?" Where in this video is the Mach-E autonomously navigating city streets, stopping at lights, handling turns and roundabouts, changing lanes, etc.? You know, the things you see routinely in all of the FSD Beta videos on RU-vid. Maybe I missed that part of this video.

I had similar experience with lane assist in my ID.4. It's similar, but you have to keep a hand on the steering wheel. It's still more relaxing than doing all the work yourself. I just wish it would be as seamless than the one button thing in the Mach 3.

It is my understanding that Tesla with Autopilot and/or FSD did not originally include an in-car camera to observe the driver's alertness. Now that many models do, for whatever reason they have not been permitted, in the US, to eliminate the need for hands-on-wheel, even on the highways. One still needs at least to be prepared to return hands to wheel and provide a little tension at twice-minute intervals or so. Tesla has been teasing an end to the "nag" but so far it has not happened.

My Nissan Leaf essentially does this as long as I keep a hand loosely in contact with the steering wheel. And it I don't have to pay a monthly fee.

Does it disengage if you brake, like the standard cruise control?

Interesting but I rarely do long distance just on motorways. Thanks for the insight 👏👏

How's it do when passing a on or off ramp where the road isn't marked by small hash lines. My Tesla just assumes the road is now twice as wide and moves into part of the ramp.

“It keeps itself absolutely spot on in the middle of the lane” that’s actually one of the things I dislike about the Tesla - I wish it would nudge to the side of the lane if I have an empty shoulder on one side and an 18 wheeler on the other.

Thank you for this content. I would buy a new or lightly used MachE at the desired price point.

Really like the styling

Didn't seem much more advanced than the system in my Enyaq - the only difference being you don't have to caress the steering wheel every minute or so. And the advantage with the Enyaq is that it is available on all roads with markings...

I have a Genesis Electrified G80, which has HDA2 and whilst it hasn't got the now legal motorway hands free feature, i'm hoping it will be introduced as an OTA update as it already recognises Motorway ( and when in France this year Autoroutes) it could theoretically be a simple add on. HDA2 also gives automatic speed maintenance according to posted signage, and lane change assist. As you described with the Mustang it provides total confidence always stayning in the centre of the lane and also will adjust its positioningin the lane if an adjacent vehicle is straying a bit close to your lane, all in all it just makes long journeys much easier!

So.. whats the different between this and adaptive cruise control? beside that you dont need to hold the steering wheel because you saying that you have to indicate and move the steering wheel if you want to switch lanes

Yes. Although to be fair, BlueCruise is not "self-driving," just a very good ADA package -much better than Tesla's EAP, in my experience. Maybe in the UK its functions are limited, but I believe on this side of the pond, the car can still do "lane keep/lane centering/adaptive cruise control" on other roads WITH your hands on the wheel. Even better, you can still steer the car, say, to swerve around road kill if necessary, without turning "lane keep" off. It just continues to center in the lane once the roadkill is behind you. I wish my Tesla would do that!

Over in the US you can use blue cruise on a decent amount of roads. Almost like base autopilot. But HANDS FREE is only available on certain mapped highways/interstates.

I know this car does more in the US, but I have to say, my 2018 leaf with Adaptive cruise control plus lane assist does this - only difference is that you have to lightly hold the wheel. Oh, and it works on all roads with decent lines painted. So many cars do this limited self driving now.

There is a difference between limited, already mapped roads, and actual adaptive self driving tech. The companies use entirely different methods for their self driving. They don't compare, so to say that one overtakes the other is like saying an orange is better than a watermelon.

This is awesome! I would love to see this actually work in the city, try downtown Montreal.

On motorways, does the system cater for stretches where the speed limit is reduced to 40 or 50 for roadworks?

I would term the highways where you can use this - limited access divided highways. I would want to see how it works with non-routine situations - emergency vehicles, construction zones, bad weather conditions, dead animals / debris in the lane, etc

Great review, but I'm interested in whether you've tried it in torrential rain or other bad weather??

Good step in the right direction. I use autosteer on my Kona and works great on ALL roads with markings but you need pressure on steering. We have A roads with hard barriers that feel/look like motorways but just aren't classified as such. UK road laws for this tech needs updating to make the Bluecruise subscription feasible.

The system seems just like the Nissan Ariya's cruise control.

I am deeply uncomfortable with paying for something the car can already do. The idea that "you only pay for the months when you need it" is backwards. You are being denied access to a feature that's already in your car, on all the months you don't pay

The tech will eventually stop us from from driving between 15 minute cities with a geo fence.

I don’t have enough experience of this one to have opinions on -just my BMW’s assist which I still don’t trust. So far I’ve had two fun little incidents -it set to speed limit +5 and braking hard in a 60 mph welsh road as soon as it saw the “30 mph 300 yards” sign, could have been dangerous -on an automated lane change on a two lane motorway (M32) it cancelling the change and swinging back. I think it saw the radar reflection of the crash barrier and misinterpreted it as a car changing in. Safe but unwelcome. The BMW uses camera+radar+ultrasonics; doesn’t do lane change once you’ve got bikes on the back as some of the radar is blocked As a software developer I think the tesla vision-only story is inadequate because of its failings in dark and mist. i think we will need LIDAR for best vision. Mercedes and Volvo are starting to offer this -let’s see in a few years.

Great review, I’m a Ford fan but still not sure on the Mach e. Our Ora funky cat has similar but you have to rest your hands on the wheel occasionally.

Thanks for the video, I wonder what happens if you fall asleep and don't wake up.. does the car come to a stop???

Gloucester services! I can recognise that service station from any angle at this point! I wish I had a self driving car for when the M5 gets congested like that...

Great review of the Blue Cruise function Robert. My wife uses her's nearly every day on the way to work.

I don't see the advantage over Tesla autopilot. The included service with a 3 or a Y does the same, though you have to tweak the wheel every now and again. Plus you can use it on no-motorway routes. Keep up the great content.

It should be an absolute legal requirement for autopilot mode for any road vehicle to be equipped with lidar, radar, a visual recognition system (cameras), gps and an inter-vehicle communication system. What Tesla does with their system to cheap out is absolutely despicable. The network should also be government-run and open-sourced with anonymous data collection. Safety should never be undercut.

When *any* sort of "full self driving" (be it Ford, Tesla or whoever), can cope with: a) the Arc De Triomphe in Paris; b) a Mumbai rush-hour, and c) really bad weather, all with no driver input; then and only then will I call it "full self driving" in fact. Otherwise it's just an enhanced form of cruise control.

i like that it checks if the driver is paying attention, but it is just to limited in functionality, its doesnt even change lanes or overtake on its own. lane-assist + aware cruise control does the same thing but on every road in every car without a monthly subscription.

Ford put the steering wheel on the wrong side! 😂 Oh, nevermind.

Would love to see a review of the Ford e-tourneo courier

7:58 oh. how I wish I saw his face when he made that sound lol

No competition. Only works on limited roads, and you have to pay a sub!

I imagine that this “feature” probably does more than what Robert demonstrated here, however, I thought I would mention that the 2016 Hyundai Ioniq 28kWh does all this as standard, with no monthly subscription 😂

Beautiful looking car but not sure I want that feature! I do use my adaptive cruse control on my e2008, great for keeping to the speed limit of 30/20.

So the answer is definately NOT.

Use adaptive cruise on 1st edition Kia eNiro and ir works in town too. The compromise is that you need to move steering wheel slightly for the cruise to continue working. Had to pay in advance but happy I bought it. No monthly subscription, next car owner will be happy too but for free

Similar system on my Ford Edge.. only difference is you have to hold the wheel, but it works on A & B roads , its never missed a beat in 40k miles, test drove the Mach-E for 48 hours as i was thinking of trading in, but it drives like a boat and so uncomfortable, great looking car and quick as you like.. but needs a few revisions

Such a brave man.

How does it deal with smart motorway restrictions or road works?

It's a nice addition to a good ev, I think it will be great for travelling sales people, or anyone who has to do a lot of motorway commuting.

Was following a mustang Mach e on a motorway and noticed its rear end bounces a lot, it had no one in the rear yet looked like shocks were shot. This is not the first time I saw this so it must be a feature

He didn't cover one crucial aspect: if a box falls off the lorry in front of you while the car is steering itself, does it swerve to avoid it, bleat at you take over (too late), brake hard, or crash into the box?

I have self steering on my Ariya. It works really well and I only have to rest my hand(s) very lightly on the wheel. I'm not sure of the advantage of hands free. What exactly does it free up your hands to do seeing as you have to keep looking at the road?!

I had a brand new Audi A6 rental for a week, doing an amazing job of Lane Assist on ANY road, even road works where it correctly chose orange lines over the white lines. All you had to do was keeping 2 fingers lightly at the wheel. I guess it came without any subscription

My Kia Niro changes lanes itself when I indicate while using adaptive cruise control on motorways. I am sure I am not imagining it! And I don’t pay £17.99 a month

Seems no more no less than standard Tesla autopilot?

If i buy a car, i don't want to "rent" a feature which I've already paid for and am lugging around whether i want it or not. Maybe car makers now view all cars as being rented, so paying to switch on extra features in a car which is going to be handed back soon, it's not an issue when the car is new. I certainly don't want a BMW with heated seats which only work if you cough up even more money.

So when you're not paying for it, or when you are but you're not on a motorway (the A1 for example), does "normal" cruise control still work, with distance keeping, lane keeping, that type of thing?

We don't like the way things are and we don't like change 😊 Always nice to try something new, can't nay say until you've had a go

Will it undertake a

My Ford Focus does most of that, it's just that you have to keep your hands on the wheel. It keeps you within the lane/slows/brakes/speeds up etc, and no subscription 😱 😊

Great video! No doubt it’s the future.

Have a Kia Niro ev and the adaptive cruise/auto steer does the same thing but a hand needs to be kept on the steering wheel. It’s effective but don’t like using it and feel it’s unnecessary + I wonder how much more I ended up paying for something I don’t want or use (and yes it’s the base model).

Can the computer wizzes hurry up get the jailbreak out for these cars 😂

Call me when they put this in minibusses and we never have to wait for public transport in the city again

As a UK Mach-e owner, the major frustration with Ford has been the painfully slow roll-out of software updates. I'm sure they will eventually get around to it but there are still no signs of BlueCruise being pushed to cars less than a year old. Updates so far have been very minor and they have just announced the next update will include 2 new games 🤦‍♂and a change to way the dial works which has been available in other markets for a year - but still no BlueCruise.

Good review Robert. So the long and short of it is that you have to pay monthly for something that you already own... No Thanks Ford...

it¡d be nice to test if the car is more efficient when self driving. I've used assisted cruise controls and it feels the battery runs out slightly faster when their in control

My megan e does all of that whilst keeping 1 finger on the wheel...come to think of it my previous juke used to go down the a55 without any input. Seems restricted when all the other cars get it for free.