In an earlier post, I mentioned Ford Motor Company's advances regarding their addition of HD radio receivers to their automobiles. Apparently their newfound focus on innovative audio didn't stop there. Now they have introduced the "Ford SYNC" hand-free audio feature. The SYNC is the spawn of a partnership between Ford and Microsoft, and untilizes bluetooth technology to fascilitate wireless phone-to-car console connectivity. Basically the feature allows you to hear audio from your car speakers that is playing from mobile phones and digital music players. There are also add-ons which enhance the experience, such as the voice activated control system. A driver can change his audio sources easily just by enabling the voice-recognition program and verbally selecting his audio. These voice commands can also access a genre, artist or even a song title. On top of this, the phones and mobile devices can also send other data such as address book entries (names, phone numbers, emails, etc.) to the vehicle to be viewed on the main screen. The new feature supports many popular digital media players such as the iPod, the Microsoft Zune, and PlayForSure players. Portable USB storage devices may also be used.
The main thing to understand about this feature, and why it is such a breakthrough, is that it is not just a device, but new software that can be built upon. The program can be adapted and updated for nbew devices when they come out. The interface in the vehicles is a program that sends data and facilitaes audio play seamlessy. In the future this will most likely be standard for automobiles. There's no telling what additional features could be added to this software in the future. The SYNC will be available in a dozen Ford, Mercury and Lincoln products beginning in January. Here is a video that gives a visual overview on the SYNC.
Sources:
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/internet-radio-in-your-car.html
http://media.ford.com/newsroom/release_display.cfm?release=25168
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