Ford is going to let you listen to your “tweets” and Internet music and news stations while behind the wheel, as the No. 2 US automaker expands what it calls “in-car connectivity.”
Ford executives outlined a number of the new features, which are activated by voice or touch commands to minimize driver distraction, in a keynote speech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday.
The new Internet services, which require a mobile phone with a Bluetooth connection, are a Twitter application built by developer OpenBeak, Pandora music radio and Stitcher, a personalized newscast service.
The US automaker also announced it was in “active talks” with Google about bringing unspecified “devices and services” from the Internet giant to its cars and had forged a partnership with online mapping Web site MapQuest.
The new technologies being rolled out are systems known as Sync, developed with US software giant Microsoft, which also gives traffic reports, navigation information and even provides a “health report” on the state of the car.
Ford introduced Sync two years ago and president and chief executive Alan Mulally said the company now has more than 1 million Sync-equipped cars on the road.
Mulally added that the new features will eventually “have a place in every Ford vehicle and not just our luxury models.”
Addressing the obvious safety concerns, Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s global product development chief, said making the Sync interfaces “simple and intuitive” was critical so drivers can keep their eyes on the road.
“That’s why our technology solution enables hands-free voice controls,” Kuzak said. “They have to minimize driver distraction. We even block things like touchscreen destination entries when the vehicle is at speed.”
Jim Buczkowski, director of electrical and electronics systems engineering, said among the features that can be controlled by voice commands are the radio, CD player, MP3 player, climate control system, navigation and phone.
An eight-inch LCD touchscreen between the driver and the front passenger allows for touch commands, a new system called “MyFord Touch.”
Ford said touch technology will be standard equipment on all future Lincoln models beginning this year and will appear in the new Ford Edge later this year and the 2012 Ford Focus.
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