Autoblog

When Ford launched its new SYNC in-car communications system in the Ford Focus, the crew in Dearborn may not have known just how popular the option would prove to be. While the SYNC system has started to infiltrate the rest of the Blue Oval line, its integration is apparently not moving fast enough for many consumers. Doug White, Vehicle Personalization Marketing & Planning manager at Ford says, "Customers and dealers were telling us that we needed SYNC on our flagship SUV and we felt we needed to respond to those concerns as quickly as we could. They essentially said, 'If you have it on Focus, why not Navigator.'" Sounds pretty reasonable to us. Considering that the Lincoln Navigator is the flagship product for Ford's up-market brand, it should be available with all the best techno-goodies available in the Ford arsenal.

The retrofit kit is now a dealer-installed option for all 2008 model year Navigator and Navigator L models built after December 4, 2007. According to the press release, pasted after the break, the vehicle must have been factory equipped with the voice-activated navigation system and DVD entertainment system, included with the Elite Package. The integration is reportedly rather straightforward and uses the steering wheel buttons and works the same as other SYNC systems. The price? Just $550, making it seem a rather no-brainer as far as we're concerned. Next in line for a SYNC accessory kit will be the Mustang.

[Source: Lincoln]

Ford developed its SYNC system with Microsoft and has an 18-month exclusive license to sell the system, which is something we weren't aware of until recently. It turns out, however, that the exclusive rights aren't being wasted: Ford reports that SYNC-equipped cars are finding twice as many buyers as cars without SYNC. One dealer said "People who won't spend a dollar more for power door locks have to have SYNC." Keep in mind this news is coming from Ford, but clearly SYNC is appealing to the common customer.

The multi-media controlling option appears to have won so many over by being easy to learn, genuinely useful for different age groups, and cheap at only $395. Scott Burgess of The Detroit News, when building his dream car, called it "the best $395 option of 2007." It also appears to be inverting the car buying decision for some, with people knowing that they want a car with SYNC then choosing among the available models.

SYNC is still young, though. If the kinds of things that PC owners and Microsoft critics have bemoaned for ages begin to creep in, then the fortunes of SYNC could sink just as quickly. But for now it's good times, and if you've been checking out SYNC from the sidelines, you might be interested to know that v2.0 will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in a couple weeks.

[Source: Ford]

Popular Mechanics is handing out its breakthrough awards, and Ford's SYNC made its way into the tech magazine's top 10 breakthrough products. SYNC's reasonable $395 price tag and voice recognition capability gave Ford and Microsoft's joint project the edge, and Popular Mechanics also really liked the fact that SYNC can read your text messages to you. SYNC will be available on 12 Ford products for the 2008 model year, with more availability in 2009.

Ford wasn't the only automaker to make its way onto the breakthrough award list, either. GM, BMW, and DaimlerChrysler's joint Two-Mode Hybrid project was also recognized for its ability to save fuel on the gas guzzlers that need it most.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

The mousetrap and mouse are locked in a constant battle for supremacy. The same is true with laws prohibiting texting while driving and the drivers who simply must text behind the wheel. Enter the capitalists: Microsoft and Nuance. Nuance makes voice recognition software and, combined with the Microsoft Sync system available in many Ford models, the driver would be able to dictate a text message to the car, and perhaps eventually do the same with e-mail.

A Nuance spokeswoman said "We are aiming for natural communication between car and driver, which will have benefits for concentration and safety." The way things are going, there are simply so many more things you can do in a car that we wonder how the increased ability to multitask, even if by voice, will ultimately aid concentration on actual driving. But we'll wait to see how it all shakes out before issuing judgment...

[Source: Auto Express]

Car companies always boast about how many technological gizmos they pack into each new model, but the sad truth is that many buyers -- and we're talking a lot here -- barely have a clue what they'd use them for let alone how to go about it. This hasn't stopped companies like Nuance Communications Inc. from developing a raft of new and innovative gadgets for our convenience. The speech-recognition market leader most recently supplied its software for use in Ford-Microsoft's new SYNC and that's just the beginning of what it has to offer.

One gadget it has in the pipeline will let drivers pick a song from an MP3 database by simply calling out the artist or title. Another feature of the system will be the ability to detect different voices so that different people will be able to program their own unique settings and control multiple devices through the one system.

Sadly, voice recognition on the PC still leaves something to be desired, so we don't expect in-car recognition to be perfect any time soon. While some might view automotive gadgets as getting to the point where they become more of a hazard than convenience, workable systems that keep more hands on the wheel and eyes on the road are to be commended.

[Source: Wards Auto]

Way back in January at CES, we got a personal demonstration of Ford's SYNC from the Microsoft Auto program manager in Vegas, and later, another demonstration from Ford in Detroit. Except for being slow to use and not all that useful, SYNC wasn't terribly complicated.

But FoMoCo isn't taking any chances and wants to ensure that the high-tech merging of their cars and your gadgets won't go over the heads of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury buyers. The carmaker is offering all its dealers extra training on the use of SYNC before the system goes on sale this fall.

Personally, we wonder if Ford is training its dealers how to sell the system more so than how to use it. As we watched the demonstration at CES we were never wowed or shown anything we hadn't seen before. It's good Ford is upping its in-car technology, but we aren't inclined to think that SYNC will be what drives buyers into Ford dealerships. Then again maybe training could help. At my last visit to a Ford dealership, it took the salesman 15 minutes to figure out how to work the Edge's power-folding rear seat.

Click through to the jump to see a video of our Ford demo.

[Source: Automotive News, subscription required]

Ford is touting SYNC's popularity at CES, where attendees voted to give the technology the CNET People's Voice Award, while Popular Mechanics magazine gave SYNC their Editor's Choice award.

While at CES we got a personal demonstration of the technology from Scott Porter, lead program manager for Microsoft Auto. The system did everything it is advertised to do, from taking voice commands, to integrating Bluetooth phones with the car to reading text messages received on your mobile phone. The most impressive thing it did was work just as well with Apple's iPod as it did with Microsoft's Zune. None of those tricks are anything different from what dozens of other electronics and even automotive companies are currently offering. One difference is the lack of GPS on SYNC. Could the Microsoft and Ford PR campaign pushing SYNC be the biggest reason for the People's Voice award? Then again, maybe we just don't "get" being able to have " :) " read out loud to us by a feminine digital voice as "smiley face," or the usefulness of taking 30 seconds or more to interrupt the music to ask SYNC what song is currently playing. We're looking forward to reading Popular Mechanics reasons for liking SYNC. Perhaps they saw something we didn't.

For the full Ford press release, click through to the jump.

From our viewpoint here at CES, it looks like automotive electronics manufacturers want nothing more than to fill that gaping hole where your 8-track once was with anything but an 8-track.

So far, Pioneer, Eclipse, TomTom, and even Microsoft are among those introducing all-in-one navigation-giving, MP3-playing, iPod-connecting, Bluetooth-equipped, satellite radio-lovin', in-car entertainment systems. All are the same, in that they take a bunch of those gadgets off the top of your dash and squash 'em into a box in the dash.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates gave his 10th keynote address at CES Sunday night, where he talked about Vista and how it would unify communication in and outside the home. Your car too. Ford's Executive Vice President Mark Fields flew in from Detroit to join Gates in announcing Sync to a huge CES crowd. Gates started the Sync introduction by saying Microsoft wants to give drivers a safer, "single command" automotive interface that combines all elements of vehicle electronics.

Fields said Sync would be available on a dozen models of early 2008 Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys, including the Edge and the new Focus. Sync will bring together man, machine, mp3 player and mobile phone, allowing drivers to integrate all those devices with their cars. Sync will download, via Bluetooth, all address books and personal ringtones from mobile phones. The system can even be set up to read text messages to drivers, and will translate shorthand like LOL and emoticons. Somehow. But we don't see how that could be a good thing. Remember the loathed talking cars of the 80s? Ugh.

Descriptions of Pioneer's and Eclipe's all-in-ones, and a few more CES keynote photos after the jump.

UPDATE: The above video does a much better job of showing you what Sync does than we do explaining it.

Microsoft and Ford have teamed to produce Ford Sync, a new in-car system that offers comprehensive, seamless integration with Bluetooth-enabled phones and a variety of digital music players. A USB port in the car accepts a variety of music players including the ubiquitious iPod, the Zune (surely you didn't think Microsoft would leave out their new toy), PlaysForSure devices, and many USB mass-storage units. Formats supported include MPC, AAC, WMA, WAV and PCM. As the market evolves and new formats are introduced, support for them will be a software upgrade away.

The Bluetooth connection will automatically import your cell phone's address book to the Ford Sync, which will allow the driver to make handsfree calls using voice commands. It also allows drivers to stay on a call they began outside the car by pressing a wheel-mounted button that activates Ford Sync's Bluetooth connection. For supported phones, personalization features such as custom and caller-specific ringtones will continue to work in-car. In addition, text messages will be read to the driver by the system, which will know to translate common text shorthand like "LOL" to proper verbiage.

Follow the jump for more information and Ford's official press release and click here for the official site.

Check out all the debuts and galleries from the Detroit Auto Show here.