Ford Motor Co. has teamed up with Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, to introduce Sync, a technology platform that uses Bluetooth and voice commands to allow drivers to control their mobile phones and music players remotely.
Although some luxury cars have had similar capabilities for a while, Sync will be available on some of the cheapest cars in the company’s product range.
The Microsoft-Ford alliance aims to cut ‘telematics’ – devices which bring advanced electronic features to cars – radically down in price so that they become ubiquitous.
The automotive user experience
Speaking about Sync, Dr. K. Prasad Venkatesh, group and technical leader with Ford’s Infotronics Research and Advanced Engineering department, commented: “The automotive user-experience, especially as it related to information services and entertainment, is in a state of rapid metamorphosis. Today’s user-experience is being defined by personalised digital content and information – anywhere, anytime.
“Just as it’s unthinkable today to have a stand alone personal computer, perhaps the day is not far when the ‘move alone’ automobile will be considered an experience of the past. With the increasing presence of brought-in devices and beamed-in services, the effective computing and communication capability of the automobile is clearly on the rise.”
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Date Published: November 12, 2007
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