Digital Media Buzz > MyFord Touch: Bringing the App Revolution to Cars

MyFord Touch: Bringing the App Revolution to Cars

By Sheila Shayon

At this year’s CES, the automotive industry took center stage. Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Business (WEB) announced partnerships with Kia, Ford and Fiat.

To keep up with the digital media technology industry, Ford unveiled its MyFord touch control system. The car dashboard morphs into the modern touchscreen era. In the center of the screen is an 8-inch, 800 x 480 optional screen with a Web browser that connects via 3G or 4G modems and works as a Wi-Fi hotspot.

MyFord Touch lets drivers personalize their gauges, vehicle settings and information displays, even if the car has multiple users. The center stack LCD displays a custom home screen with programmable “hot buttons” for photos, common phone functions, destinations, climate control settings and audio presets.

“With more than a million SYNC-equipped cars on the road already, it’s exciting to see Ford continue to push the envelope and explore new applications for automotive software,” says Kevin Dallas, general manager for Microsoft’s WEB division. “The car is returning to the place where consumers go to see high tech innovation.”

Those high-tech innovations include apps from three partner/developers: Pandora, Stitcher and OpeanBeak.

“Voice control is one of the key characteristics of the Sync technology, which enables drivers to interact with their media and applications - such as Pandora - while driving and keeping their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel the whole time,” says Tim Westergren, chief strategy officer and founder of Pandora.

The heart and soul of Sync is the new Microsoft Auto software, which  interfaces with almost any MP3 player or Bluetooth cell phone. The software seeks the address book and transfers names and numbers to an internal database, and Sync is capable of voice-activated, hands-free calling. A push of a button on the steering wheel calls the number or name at your voice command.

Sync uses text-to-speech technology to read aloud text messages received while driving. And the driver can reply to an audible text message from one of 20 predefined responses. Sync supports caller ID, call waiting, conference calling, a caller log, and signal strength and battery charge icons. It plays personal ringtones, and all information is displayed on the radio display screen. MP3 players connect to the system through an included USB 2.0 port.

“Ford Sync is the only voice-controlled implementation of Pandora that is currently announced. Listeners to Pandora enjoy a universal account that follows them seamlessly from one device to another throughout their day.  This means that they can create stations or give feedback on songs as they play from Pandora on their computer at work, and then tune into that same station on their smartphone or home CE device when they leave the office,” continues Westergren.

OpenBeak is a mobile client for posting updates and reading messages on Twitter. “OpenBeak is the evolution of TwitterBerry, which was launched in 2007 as the first Twitter application for BlackBerry smartphones,” according to Jason Schroeder, founder and owner. ”I have been developing BlackBerry software for the past six years, from the era when BlackBerry devices first featured black-and-white screens.”

The SYNC application takes the Twitter experience to a new level: timelines, direct messages and friends can be read out loud. While listening to a particular tweet, the display indicates the user and elapsed time since the tweet was written. Soon, a driver will be able to retweet a post, be notified of new messages, and on startup, present the total number of new tweets.

“Ford Motor Company identified OpenBeak as the Twitter application for mobile devices and contacted Orangatame.” Schroeder says. “OpenBeak communicates with SYNC over a Bluetooth connection. The SYNC application provides text-to-speech and voice recognition services, which OpenBeak uses to relay messages instead of using the traditional display and keyboard.”

Steering wheel controls skip to the next tweet or go back to the previous item in the timeline. When asked if this is a source of driver distraction, Schroeder comments: “It is no more distractive than changing a radio station on the stereo using the existing steering wheel controls.”

Stitcher, www.stitcher.com, allows listeners to create personalized, on-demand Internet radio stations with news, talk and entertainment programs. Users choose which programs to “stitch” together, and the app streams the content to the user’s mobile device. Stitcher will suggest new programs as they come online if they match with the user’s profile of choice.

“Stitcher communicates with the Ford head unit via Bluetooth. For the    driver/listener, the experience is simply to get into her car, push a button, and ask the car to play content she wants from Stitcher. Any functionality that is available via the Stitcher touch UI is available via voice and the head unit in the car,” says Noah Shanok, co-founder and CEO.

“In general terms, I would have to say there wasn’t so much a great leap forward as many small steps. Both Ford and Stitcher have been working toward this kind of experience for some time. From a technical perspective, improvements in voice recognition and the growing ubiquity of Bluetooth communication protocols were the key hurdles we were facing.  In more specific terms, improvements in the Sync product and the API that Ford engineers developed made the VR-driven development possible.  Once we got access to the API, we found we could integrate it almost seamlessly our Android deployment of Stitcher.”

As for the driver distraction issue, Shanok says “Listening to Stitcher through Ford’s SYNC system is less of a distraction than traditional radio because everything is hands-free. Stitcher’s introduction into the vehicle environment is simply the latest step in our journey to make on-demand talk radio available everywhere. Since people spend an average of 10.4 hours per week in the car (according to a recent Roland Berger study), this is a huge and exciting step forward for us.”

As for what’s coming next?

“We’re heavily focused on ubiquity. Ultimately, we’re working to make Pandora as ubiquitous and as easy to use as traditional radio,” says Pandora’s Westergren.

Schroeder says OpenBeak will continue to innovate and produce the best Twitter application for consumers. “Look for location-based services, additional media sharing providers and other exciting features coming soon,” he says.

As for Stitcher, “We are just scratching the surface of what is possible in this arena. The future of radio is to listen to what you want, when you want wherever you want.  As we realize this dream, the listening experience you have at home, during your commute and wherever you are will be seamless, and entirely within your control,” the promise from Shanok.