Will Ford get BlueCruise right for the Fathom?

[graycorgi]

Compared to the competition, the current iteration of BlueCruise seems lackluster. It does not provide much more than the ADAS systems most cars now have. The main problem as I see it is that Ford has chosen to limit BlueCruise only to mapped limited-access highways (interstates and some very select US/state highways), with seemingly zero expansion of their coverage map in the US since 2022.

I've read the reports that Ford wants BlueCruise to have "Level 3" driving capability on the Fathom. For a vehicle who's default battery will have less than 300mi range, limiting such a feature to limited access highways seems shortsighted. I have seen no mention from Ford for any plans to expand the BlueCruise coverage map. Their closest competitor GM covers over 5x the amount of miles with their Super Cruise solution.

Will Ford make meaningful improvements to the BlueCruise coverage map and capabilities? There are many US highways that could really use the coverage. The current BlueCruise map would barely cover 40% of my ~5-hour drive to Atlanta, for example - and while there are some traffic signals on the non-covered portion, they are minimal. It would be great for BlueCruise to eventually be able to handle these high-speed highways that have occasional traffic signals on them.

 

[paneubert]

Wishful thinking, but I do believe they will put the latest and greatest sensors into the Fathom in an attempt to "future proof" things a bit. So that if/when BlueCruise jumps in capability, the Fathom has the physical tech to use it. Software is easy via OTA updates. But hardware is a bigger pain. Makes sense to spend the couple extra bucks now for better sensors with the hope that folks then subscribe to BlueCruise when it is an appealing option (if they do a big BlueCruise update to be more like Tesla FSD for example).

 

[ScooterAsheville]

https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/topic/us/en/2026/apr/0428-super-cruise.html

I'm a huge self-driving fan. GM does have a great highway solution. A billion miles with no accidents - sign me up.

I'm keeping my eye on the hinted-but-not-promised R2T. Rivian is saying (yea, promises are cheap) hands off in 2027, eyes off in 2028. With LIDAR, which to me is a requirement. Rivian isn't for everyone, and they have some reliability issues to work on, but I like what they deliver. We have tons of Rivans here. The owners I've spoken to absolutely love them.

The self-driving world is in churn. Prices dropping. Capabilities and reliability increasing. And vendors leapfrogging each other. I betcha it stays that way for several years. But the future, for those of us who want it (to each his own), is bright.

 

[commadorebob]

Hot take: Ford needs to make a deal with Tesla to license their self-driving tech. Maybe do a licensing agreement: Ford gets self-driving, and Tesla gets the butt-shaker.

 

[graycorgi]

Hot take: Ford needs to make a deal with Tesla to license their self-driving tech. Maybe do a licensing agreement: Ford gets self-driving, and Tesla gets the butt-shaker.

I can't even imagine the amount of money Tesla would demand for this, considering what a premium they charge for "FSD" for their own customers.

 

[Snakebitten]

I have both a Bluecruise 1.4 F150
And a 2025 GMC Denali truck with SuperCruise

The Denali EV truck beats the KingRanch F150 in almost every personal experience aspect I care about. It's magnificent!

But the F150 has far more comfortable driver's cockpit. Especially on long hauls beyond a couple of hours.
And Ford's ADAS implementation with the Bluecruise software stack is far better on non-hands-free roads.

So you can brag that SuperCruise has more roads "mapped" than Bluecruise's Hands-free, but SuperCruise SUCKS if you aren't on a "mapped" road. Bluecruise is still 100% functional on "unmapped" roads.