Ford SYNC

[russellw]

I've been watching the evolution of the US based Sync system in premium Ford models and it is now reaching the point of being a useful system.

Initially designed to be nothing much more than a BT phone interface (albeit a voice activated one), the Sync system now incorporates:

• Turn-by-Turn Directions
• Voice control over audio and entertainment systems
• Vehicle Health Report
• News, Sports and Weather
• Real-time Traffic
• Business Search

.. on top of the phone based features such as Hands-Free calling, audible text messages and phone book integration.

The system is based on the Microsoft Auto platform (formerly Windows CE for Automotive) and is gradually filtering down to the more basic models.

We've seen an iteration of this in the current Mondeo (of course) but as it is a modular system it would seem to make sense for FoA to adopt this form of ICE integration rather than continue down the (troublesome) BT/iPod integration route they are currently taking.

Cheers
Russ

[Franco Cozzo]

Hell yes, this looks awesome, its getting closer and closer to being carPCs.

[Falc'man]

That would be great to have included in the local Falcon, and by the way you describe it, being modular, hopefully not too far away.

Here's a thread I started on it a while ago.

[R-Design]

Originally Posted by russellw

I've been watching the evolution of the US based Sync system in premium Ford models and it is now reaching the point of being a useful system....

Funny you should mention this Russell, I've noticed a few people on this forum (myself included) are big fans of the technology. Maybe a little bird whispered something in your ear regarding FGII?

I've also noticed that Ford has put some information regarding SYNC in their website. Has anyone heard anything about the possibility of this technology being offered in Falcon/Territory, in the near future?

http://www.ford.com.au/servlet/Conte...YPage&site=FOA

[naddis01]

Thats interesting. It looks as though this will be coming to Ford Oz at some point. I would be surprised if it is in FGII though.

[Falc'man]

Originally Posted by Boss315

Funny you should mention this Russell, I've noticed a few people on this forum (myself included) are big fans of the technology. Maybe a little bird whispered something in your ear regarding FGII?

I've also noticed that Ford has put some information regarding SYNC in their website. Has anyone heard anything about the possibility of this technology being offered in Falcon/Territory, in the near future?

http://www.ford.com.au/servlet/Conte...YPage&site=FOA

hmmmm... maybe you're right...

"New Ford SYNC (not yet available in Australia)......." sounds good, unless they're referring it being available on the 3 locally sold Euros...

[Road_Warrior]

A system like this should be available on cars like the G6ET. Or in fact be standard.

[Falc'man]

AS STATES MULL BANS, FORD IMPROVES SYNC TO GIVE DRIVERS SAFER ALTERNATIVES TO HAND-HELD TEXTING

MyFord Touch driver connect technology, launching on the 2011 Ford Edge, features a "Do Not Disturb" button for drivers to choose to have incoming phone calls and text messages blocked for the duration of their trip.
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* Ford adds “Do Not Disturb” button to block incoming calls and texts on new MyFord Touch-equipped vehicles and proactive feature content “lock-outs” to encourage use of voice control
* In addition, Ford integrates new Bluetooth Message Access Profile (MAP) into SYNC for all MyFord Touch-equipped vehicles so more drivers can have texts read aloud to them while driving
* Research In Motion (RIM), maker of BlackBerry smartphones, plans to adopt MAP and enable SYNC audible text messaging capability to work with all new smartphones; Ford urges other phone manufacturers to follow

Video: Ford SYNC Reads SMS Text Messages (YouTube)

DEARBORN, Mich., July 8, 2010 – As the issue of texting while driving grows in prominence nationally, Ford Motor Company is expanding its SYNC technology with new features to give drivers safer alternatives to hand-held texting and keep them more focused on the road.

To help make the in-car connection safer, Ford is improving the SYNC text message readback feature and empowering drivers with a “Do Not Disturb” button so they can decide the level of connectivity and communications they want to manage while in the car. Ford is also taking the proactive step to “lock-out” capabilities that are not relevant to the task of driving while the vehicle is in motion.

“Text messaging has become the default communications method for consumers of all ages,” said John Schneider, chief engineer, Ford multimedia and infotainment engineering. “The power of SYNC voice control combined with Ford’s latest connectivity improvements will reduce the temptation to pick up the phone and take your eyes off the road, providing a safer solution for the use of mobile devices in the car.”

Ford believes drivers should keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel and was the first automaker to support a proposed federal ban and state-level legislation banning hand-held texting while driving. In turn, Ford also understands that drivers want to be connected to their mobile worlds while on the road, and texting continues to grow as a preferred communication method. According to a new poll from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, for example, approximately one in four (27%) American adults and driving age teens (26%) admit to texting while driving.

Ford will offer the new features on 2011 model year vehicles equipped with MyFord or MyLincoln Touch, the intuitive driver connect technology that provides drivers personalized access to information and entertainment through voice control, touch screens and familiar five-way controls mounted on the steering wheel.

Bluetooth MAP
Bluetooth is the standard technology that allows electronic devices such as a mobile phone and Ford SYNC to communicate with each other wirelessly. To improve the number of phones that can “communicate” with SYNC so the system can read aloud incoming text messages to drivers, Ford has adopted the latest Bluetooth standard – Message Access Profile (MAP).

“Today, only a small population of phones have the capability to work with the text message readback feature of SYNC,” added Schneider. “With MAP technology, even more drivers will be able to use SYNC to listen to text messages.”

Defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the MAP standard outlines a set of features and procedures used to exchange email, SMS, and MMS messages between devices. It is tailored to the automotive hands-free environment where an onboard terminal device – in this case, SYNC – takes advantage of the messaging capability of a communications device, such as a BlackBerry smartphone.

The Bluetooth SIG recommendations are considered benchmarks, but they’re not industry requirements. Ford has elected to implement the MAP to signal support for the protocol and encourage additional mobile device manufacturers to add the capability in their products.

“It’s only through acceptance of common standards industry-wide that key technologies can be adapted to the in-vehicle environment,” said Schneider. “We’re hoping to encourage the adoption of MAP so more customers – and more mobile devices – can successfully use the innovative features SYNC has to offer, helping reduce the problem of driver distraction.”

According to a 100-car study conducted by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, driver inattention that involved looking away from the road for more than a few seconds was a factor in nearly 80 percent of accidents. By providing drivers with the ability to receive audible, hands-free texts, Ford is hoping to help drivers focus on the task of driving.

Ford is already working with Research In Motion (RIM) and supports the company’s intention to begin implementing it in all new BlackBerry smartphones.

“RIM plans to implement MAP on BlackBerry smartphones moving forward and we are pleased to work with Ford in an effort to foster industry-wide adoption and standardization,” said Andrew Bocking, Vice President, Handheld Software Product Management at Research In Motion.

“Do Not Disturb” and locked features
Ford has also proactively designed the MyFord and MyLincoln Touch driver connect system to give drivers more control of how they manage communications while in the car. Screens can be personalized to display information relevant to an individual driver using a simple button click, voice command or touch-screen tap.

The new 2011 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX will be first to offer the “Do Not Disturb” button. This handy feature blocks incoming phone calls or text messages from a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone paired with SYNC; diverting calls into voicemail and saving text messages on the device for viewing later. But unlike turning the phone off, drivers can still make voice-activated outgoing phone calls, if they so decide, and the SYNC 911 Assist feature can make a call to 911 in case of emergency.

In addition, Ford continues to limit access to a variety of communication features while the vehicle is in motion, thus encouraging drivers to use voice commands if they wish to access the function.

Ford is also taking the proactive step of locking out or limiting content and capabilities of MyFord Touch that are not related to the task of driving when the vehicle is in motion, for instance:

* Screens with information not intended to be used by the driver while driving such as point-of-interest reviews and ratings plus SIRIUS Travel Link sports scores, movie listings, and ski conditions
* Any action that requires typing on a keypad (e.g. typing a navigation destination, editing information)
* Limiting lists of navigation and phone choices that the user can view to fewer entries (e.g. phone contacts, recent phone call entries)

Specific functions that are locked out when the vehicle is in motion:

* Cell Phone
o Pairing a Bluetooth-capable phone
o Manually adding individual contacts into the Phonebook
o Viewing received text messages on screen
* WiFi Connectivity
o Web browsing on the vehicle screen
* Video/Photos/Graphics
o Playing video
o Album cover art and Phonebook photo browsing
o Editing photos
o Editing the screen’s wallpaper or adding a new one
* Navigation
o Destination entry by touchscreen keyboard input (voice entry is permissible)

# # #

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 176,000 employees and about 80 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, production of which has been announced by the company to be ending in the fourth quarter of 2010, and, until its sale, Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.


Ford Media.
The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. RIM assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services.

[Quicksand]

What kind of infrastructure is required for this to be feasible in Australia? Do we have the infrastructure required to serve vehicles with this technology? I know the Mondeo has some of the watered down features and the rest is 'disabled' for Australian cars, but what about weather, traffic etc.

[Falc'man]

FORD AND NUANCE ADVANCE VOICE RECOGNITION OF SYNC: NOW FASTER, FRIENDLIER, MORE PERSONAL

* With the introduction of MyFord Touch™ driver connect technology, Ford makes it easier to control in-car systems with fewer steps and more natural language; customers can now speak more than 10,000 first-level commands, up from only 100 in first-generation SYNC®
* Working with voice control leader Nuance, SYNC will recognize more direct voice commands such as “Call John Smith,” “Find ice cream” and “Add a phone,” allowing users to do more with fewer steps
* Innovative features boost recognition accuracy and provide “Samantha,” the voice of SYNC, with smoother, more natural speech patterns
* Consumer acceptance of voice control is increasing; the Harris Interactive® 2010 AutoTECHCAST survey found an 8 point year-over-year improvement, and industry analysts predict continued segment growth


Ford SYNC Voice Recognition (YouTube)



DEARBORN, Mich., July 15, 2010 – Ford made in-car voice activation a reality for millions of drivers with SYNC, first introduced in 2007. Now, Ford engineers – working with voice technology pioneers Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN) – plan to once again raise the bar with the next generation of SYNC, a system that can understand 100 times more commands than the original, thus delivering a more conversational experience between car and driver.

The voice upgrades will be available on the next generation of SYNC powering the new driver connect technology, MyFord Touch, launching this year on the new 2011 Ford Edge. The system will make it easier for drivers to use voice control and get what they want more quickly using more natural phrases.

“Ford is committed to making voice recognition the primary user interface inside of the car because it allows drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel,” said Jim Buczkowski, director of Ford electronics and electrical systems engineering. “The improvements we’ve made will make it easier for drivers to use and interact with it, even those customers that have never used voice recognition before.”

Improved vocabulary
At the heart of SYNC is the speech engine, and Ford is working with speech technology leader Nuance to create and integrate a vast library of possible driver requests. This library will enable the SYNC speech engine to listen for and respond to more voice commands directly, recognize different words that mean the same thing (aliases), and integrate a vast number of point-of-interest (POI) names and business types into its navigation system.

“With this latest generation of SYNC, users can control the system without having to learn nearly as many commands or navigate as many menus,” said Brigitte Richardson, Ford global voice control technology and speech systems lead engineer. “As we’ve gained processing power and learned more about how drivers use the system, we’ve been able to refine the interface. Customers can do more and say more from the top-level menu, helping them accomplish their tasks more quickly and efficiently.”

Examples of some improvements to SYNC powering MyFord Touch-equipped vehicles include:
More direct, first-level commands

* “Call John Smith” dials the phone number associated with John in a connected phone’s phonebook directly – the user isn’t required to say “Phone” first
* Direct commands related to destinations, like “Find a shoe store” or “Find a hotel,” place users in the navigation system menu where they will be walked through the POI search process
* The command, “Add a phone,” will enter the phone pairing menu and walk users through the connection process – users don’t have to enter a phone submenu to initiate the pairing process

Quicker, easier entry and search

* Navigation entries can be spoken as a single one-shot command; for example, “One American Road, Dearborn,” instead of requiring individual city, street and building number entries
* Brand names are recognized by the navigation POI menu, allowing drivers to look for chain restaurants, shoe stores, department stores and more, as well as regional and local favorites
* Direct tuning of radio stations by simply saying “AM 1270” or “FM 101.1,” or using SIRIUS station names or numbers such as “21” or “Alt-Nation”

Use of aliases

* Within the climate menu, users can voice-request the same function using several different phrases, such as “Warmer,” “Increase temperature” or “Temperature up” – helping reduce the need for drivers to learn specific commands
* When requesting a specific song from an MP3 player, users can now say “Play song [title]” in addition to saying “Play track [title]”

Personalized access

* If an occupant’s USB-connected device, such as an MP3 player, has been named, users can simply say the device name, such as “John Smith’s iPod,” rather than the less personal “USB” command

More friendly and adaptable
Ford voice engineers refined SYNC beginning with the two features customers interact with first: the voice recognition system and Samantha, the digital voice behind system commands.

To help SYNC react to driver commands more quickly and accurately, the team integrated Nuance’s Unsupervised Speaker Adaptation (USA) technology. USA learns the voice of a driver within the first three voice commands, quickly creating a user profile and adapting to tone, inflection and even dialect for a 50 percent improvement in recognition performance. USA then continues to learn during that same trip, even picking out another user and creating a second profile if the voice is markedly different. Currently SYNC can actively adapt to voices in English, French-Canadian and Mexican-Spanish – with more languages on tap.

“The power of the SYNC voice control system is its ability to understand and respond to more natural language commands – and the advanced adaptability of the speech recognition technology enables the system to train itself with each successive use,” said Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. “The adaptability of SYNC is pretty remarkable – a feature functionality Nuance and Ford worked hard to develop to ensure seamless customer interaction with the system every time it starts up. So even if the car owner has a cold or someone borrows the car, SYNC will adapt to the changed voice and process spoken commands without missing a beat.”

Initial interactions also involve Samantha, the “voice” of SYNC. In an attempt to help Samantha sound less computerized, Ford boosted the size of her speech profile approximately fivefold. The additional speech units will help Samantha speak in a smoother, more human voice as she helps vehicle occupants accomplish their in-car tasks such as making phone calls, playing songs from a connected digital device and getting directions.

Voice poised to become primary in-car communication interface
With smart phones expected to replace desktop and laptop PCs as the primary web access point by 2015, some industry analysts believe voice control will replace touch devices like keyboards and screens as the primary method of search. Dr. Philip E. Hendrix, Ph.D., founder and director of immr and analyst with GigaOM Pro, says that a majority of smart phones will have optimized a Voice User Interface by the end of 2012.

Research trends show strong consumer acceptance of voice recognition technology. The Harris Interactive 2010 AutoTECHCAST study found that 35 percent of drivers1 say they would be likely to adopt voice-activated controls or features in their vehicle, up from just over one-quarter (27 percent) in 2009. In recent Ford-conducted market research of SYNC owners, more than 60 percent reported they use the voice controls while driving.

Datamonitor, an independent research firm, predicts that the global market for advanced speech recognition in the mobile world will triple from 2009 to 2014. Market growth of speech recognition in vehicles is expected to grow at a similar rate, from $64.3 million in 2009 to $208.2 million in 2014.

Voice commands may reduce distracted driving
Ford knows that customers are increasingly using mobile electronics while driving, and studies show hands-free, voice-activated systems such as Ford SYNC offer significant safety benefits versus hand-held devices.

According to a 100-car study conducted by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, driver inattention that may involve looking away from the road for more than a few seconds is a factor in nearly 80 percent of accidents. The improvements to SYNC should help drivers accomplish tasks hands-free using natural speech patterns and fewer commands, enabling them to focus on the task of driving.


# # #
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 176,000 employees and about 80 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, production of which has been announced by the company to be ending in the fourth quarter of 2010, and, until its sale, Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications and professional services. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris Interactive specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what’s next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

1The AutoTECHCAST study was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive between April 6, 2010 - April 26, 2010 among 12,225 U.S. adults ages 18 and over and who own or lease a vehicle, have a valid driver’s license, have at least one household vehicle, own a vehicle model year 2005 or newer, and are at least 50 percent involved in the decision to buy their next household vehicle. Results were weighted as needed for age, gender, education, region and income and to properly represent U.S. vehicle segment owners. Propensity score weighting also was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

Ford Media.

[csv8]

November QANTAS In Flight magazine has an article on car tech. And it is coming here, no date as too when.