In-car wireless technology is next big thing

During the Consumer Electronics Show this month, Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally of Ford Motor Co. became the first automotive industry leader to deliver the opening keynote speech at CES, signaling the new importance of the automobile market to the electronics industry.

His message echoed one introduced by former General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner at CES two years ago -- that the automobile can become the ultimate mobile computing platform. Since then, all major automobile manufacturers have begun competing to link their vehicles by satellite to Internet-computing applications.

As Apple has demonstrated with the company's successful iPhone handheld mobile platform, there are a vast number of "apps" that can be accessed wirelessly by users from a virtual "cloud" of unseen computer servers linked to the worldwide Internet.

During the 2010 CES trade show, both Ford and GM demonstrated their competing wireless platforms. Mulally teamed with Microsoft to unveil the latest updates to the Sync automotive platform. He also contrasted it to the GM OnStar system.

"The in-car technology that Ford chose has proven to be the right one because it has the advantage of connecting customers by their own mobile phone," Mulally said.

During his keynote speech, Mulally was aided by Jim Buczkowski, director of Ford's electrical and electronic subsystems. Buczkowski unveiled the Ford Sync Apps Ecosystem and MyFord software environment that are expected to be standard features on all Ford vehicles by 2013.

"It's the integration of the entire car entertainment experience. Our vision for Sync is that drivers can connect to friends and family, and all the data stored in the cloud, using touch controls, voice controls and colorful LCD graphics," said Buczkowski.

Microsoft's Sync Developer Tool Kit will allow software developers to create localized wireless Bluetooth applications within a Ford vehicle that will connect any Bluetooth device to the Internet and a host of "cloud computing" applications. Using the Bluetooth applications programming interface, mobile apps will be able to write from the Bluetooth device to the Sync dashboard display system, have the car's electronics convert cell phone text to audible speech, interpret voice commands from the driver and receive data from the internal car sensor systems.

When a driver first opens the car door and enters the Ford Sync Apps Ecosystem, the car will recognize the driver's voice, welcome the person by name, and then upload customized features from MyFord that are unique to that particular driver.

Some of the apps demonstrated during the Ford keynote speech included Pandora and Stitcher Internet radio services; Open Beak, which translates Twitter text messages into audible speech; and a Mapquest GPS navigation system. These features are standard and accessible to any Ford customer with the purchase of the vehicle, and there are no extra subscription fees beyond what is paid for a driver's cell phone.

A Ford Sync mockup of the dashboard featured three display screens. The largest is the center console consisting of an 8-inch, 800x400 pixel touch screen. The MyFord Touch user interface being developed by Sony allows every control in the vehicle system to be tuned through an environment that integrates the touch screen with high-resolution graphics and voice commands. Most importantly, a Web browser is also included. The Mobile Applications Connectivity Package links the Web browser to the "cloud" through a 3G or 4G broadband modem that can be plugged into a USB port in the Apps Ecosystem. Once activated, the car itself becomes a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot. In addition, an SD memory card slot and a set of standard RCA video camera jacks allow picture and video files to be displayed and shared on the 8-inch console screen. THX surround-sound hardware is also planned as an available option for the Sync Apps Ecosystem.

For safety considerations, the Web browser and video playback features on the console are not activated when driving. Also, any driver's cell phone that is plugged into the Apps Ecosystem has its display screen disabled to prevent driving distractions. Any necessary cell phone display functions are piped to the center touch screen console interface on the vehicle dashboard.

MyDash is a dashboard subset of the MyFord driving experience that uses the touch-screen console in creative ways to minimize the number of separate buttons required by the driver while also enhancing driver safety. Different touch-screen display menus are highlighted in different colors to make it more intuitive for drivers to know what apps environment is currently active while not taking eyes off the road for more than a quick glance.

Ford is projecting that these features will be available on the 2011 Edge crossover SUV and 2012 Focus sedan before eventually migrating into other vehicles by 2013.

With their heads in "the cloud," let's hope drivers continue to focus their attention on the road where it belongs.

Stan Hanel has worked in the electronics industry for more than 30 years and is a long-time member of the Electric Auto Association and the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association. Hanel writes and edits for EAA's "Current Events" and LVEVA's "Watts Happening" newletters. Contact him at stanhanel@aol.com.