Connect with us
ford blue cruise operation ford blue cruise operation

News

Tesla Autopilot and Ford BlueCruise compared in brutally honest critique

Credit: Munro Live/YouTube

Published

on

Automotive teardown specialist Sandy Munro is a brutally honest veteran who tells things as they are. This is one of the reasons why he regularly criticizes Tesla for its vehicles’ inconsistent build quality, and, more recently, why he came away unimpressed after operating Ford’s upcoming BlueCruise driver assist system, which allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel in designated “blue zones” across the United States. 

Munro recently took a drive with Ford Driver Assist Technology Chief Engineer Chris Billman on a freeway, and immediately, the teardown expert and former Ford engineer noticed a number of interesting behaviors from the hands-free system. While he liked some of BlueCruise’s behaviors, Munro quickly observed that Ford’s advanced driver-assist suite could not take the off-ramp by itself. This made it quite different from the Autopilot that Munro has been using for some time now in his Tesla Model 3. 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Munro soon learned that BlueCruise required manual interventions when navigating curves. And when these happened, the alerts prompting drivers to keep their hands on the wheel did not include loud, audible warnings. Manual interventions with BlueCruise were also required for basic maneuvers like lane changes, and Billman was quite unclear if Ford has any plans to expand the system’s driver-assist features to inner-city streets like Tesla’s FSD Beta. 

At the end of the trip, Munro concluded that Ford BlueCruise, at least in its current iteration, still has a lot of room to improve. The teardown expert highlighted that for Ford to make BlueCruise impressive, the veteran automaker must fix the system’s incapability to handle curves on the highways, even those that the company describes as “sharp curves.” Munro also noted that Ford needs to improve BlueCruise’s disengagements, which could be unclear to the driver. 

“I would suggest that the sweeping curve stuff, you need to address that. I think that would be something that you absolutely flat out would want to have, better than what you’ve got today. And the reason basically is that, um, you know I got a pension plan that I need to be fully funded. I guess I’ve been a little bit spoiled by watching what Tesla’s been doing with the Full Self-Driving Beta. That is really impressive, and I’m going to suggest that somehow, if you can get your hands on that and try it out, it’ll really help you understand what I was talking about as far as improvements are concerned,” Munro said. 

Interestingly enough, Ford has mounted a rather pointed strategy in promoting BlueCruise, which would be released for the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning, with both CEO Jim Farley and Ford North America Product Communications director Mike Levine taking shots at Tesla’s Autopilot. Farley, for one, highlighted during BlueCruise’s announcement in April that the system was tested in the real world so that Ford’s customers “don’t have to,” and Levine is known to frequently mock FSD and Autopilot for its flaws while engaging in arguments with Tesla owners on Twitter. 

Watch Sandy Munro’s take on Ford’s BlueCruise in the video below. 

Advertisement
-
-

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to tips@teslarati.com to give us a heads up. 

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

SpaceX’s biggest test yet arrives this week and it’s not a rocket launch

Published

on

By

SpaceX will report second quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, August 4, marking the first time the company has opened its books to the public since its record IPO in June. Management will host a live audio only webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET, streamed on X, with no dial in option.

The debut carries more weight than a typical first quarter as a public company. Two trading days after the release, on August 6, the first tranche of SpaceX’s lockup expires, freeing roughly 911.5 million insider and employee shares, worth well over $100 billion at current prices and the largest such release in Wall Street history. A second, larger tranche tied to the stock trading 30 percent above its $135 IPO price never triggered, since shares have spent most of July trading below that price.

Wall Street’s models point to revenue near $6.9 billion for the quarter, up sharply from the $4.69 billion SpaceX reported in the first quarter, with a narrower per share loss than the $1.27 posted three months earlier, according to estimates compiled by Motley Fool. Those numbers will be the first look at how SpaceX’s three segments, Starlink, launch and AI, are performing independently.

SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites

Investors heading into the call have a specific list of questions. How many net new Starlink subscribers did SpaceX add after ending March with 10.3 million, and is average revenue per user holding up as the service expands into lower income markets. How much of the AI segment’s revenue reflects contract signings with Anthropic, Google and Reflection AI this year, deals that combined could annualize to nearly $28 billion if fully ramped. Whether capital expenditures, which nearly doubled in the AI segment alone between 2024 and 2025, are still accelerating or starting to plateau. And whether management offers any forward guidance at all, something SpaceX has never done publicly.

The report will also land days after Elon Musk publicly denied a Wall Street Journal report describing internal planning to separate Tesla’s China business ahead of a potential Tesla-SpaceX merger. Whether Musk or SpaceX executives address that speculation on the call, even indirectly, maybe something investors will be listening for on Tuesday.

As Teslarati reported after Musk’s own warning to short sellers last week, the CEO has made clear he expects skeptics to be proven wrong over time. Tuesday will be the first chance for the numbers themselves to make that case.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

SpaceX’s Starship just got filmed by its own cargo

SpaceX released new footage of Starship in space captured by the Starlink satellites it deployed.

Published

on

By

SpaceX released a new video Friday evening showing Starship from an angle showcased by its own Starlink satellites, watching the rocket drift away in orbit.

The 65 second clip, posted on X, stitches together footage from four cameras mounted on a single Starlink V3 satellite. It opens with a close view of Starship’s 171 foot upper stage, still catching sunlight, then pulls back as the two spacecraft separate.

The footage comes from Starship’s 13th flight test, which launched July 24 from Starbase after a scrubbed attempt and an abort caused by an engine issue the week before. When Flight 13 finally flew, it carried the first batch of functional Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever deployed, twenty of them, with six equipped with cameras meant to scan the ship’s heat shield during reentry.

Flight 13 checked most of its boxes. Starship deployed all 20 satellites, relit a Raptor engine in space, and splashed down softly in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Musk’s longer term plan calls for a Starlink V3 constellation of 100,000 satellites, according to a recent FCC filing, with Starship as the only vehicle capable of launching them at the volume that requires. Each Starship flight is designed to carry up to 60 V3 satellites once the vehicle reaches routine service, well beyond what Falcon 9 can carry in a single mission.

Starship is next expected to fly with an attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, a maneuver SpaceX has so far reserved for the Super Heavy booster.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla Model Y L’s new features flexed at unveiling event at Diner

Published

on

Tesla Model Y L in a field
Credit: Tesla

Tesla flexed the new features of the Model Y L with a dedicated media event at the company’s Diner on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The Model Y L is the extended-wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover, which has been voted the best-selling car in the world on three occasions. The vehicle is already rolling off production lines at Gigafactory Texas, and first deliveries are slated to take place later this year.

Tesla brings Model Y L ‘Launch Series’ to the U.S. at $61,990

Teslarati was invited to the event, but due to some scheduling conflicts, we could not make it to Los Angeles. Instead, we will have our hands on a media unit sometime in August, so we’ll be able to spend some more extended time with the Model Y L.

However, plenty of those who made it to LA shared some cool features that set the Model Y L apart from the Model Y.

Multi-Row Climate Control

Tesla fitted the Model Y L with full climate control on all three rows on the front screen. It can be adjusted by selecting which row you’d like to modify on the right-hand side of the touch screen:

Better Rear Window Visibility

One of the strangest things about the Model Y, especially the Juniper iteration, is the rear window has extremely limited visibility when looking into the rearview mirror.

Tesla has improved upon this with the Model Y L:

PowerShare will be included

Model Y L will come with PowerShare in North America, with an 11.5kW output to your home. Tesla said it would require Powerwall 3 for operation.

Wireless Charging Pad

There has been some speculation that Tesla would upgrade the wireless charging pads in the United States, but this is not the case.

Tesla owner fixes common feature complaint with crafty DIY retrofit

Tesla confirmed that it does not come with the cooled pads as the Y L in China does. This is because North America has not adopted Qi charging yet.

Thermal Management Improvements

These improvements in the Model Y L were seen with thermal management:

  • Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
  • +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather, 7 miles of real-world range gained
  • 8x more solar energy reflection off of glass roof
  • 30% reduction in solar energy entering the cabin

Demand

Tesla said the Model Y L is almost sold out in the U.S. It comes with

  • 1 year of FSD Supervised
  • 1 year of Supercharging
  • 1 year of Premium Connectivity
  • Free exterior paint color, interior, and wheel option at no additional cost
Continue Reading