In a world of automotive cellphone hate, Ford promotes SYNC as the solution
By Tim Stevens 
posted July 9th 2010 9:31AM
posted July 9th 2010 9:31AM
As States Mull Bans, Ford Improves SYNC to Give Drivers Safer Alternatives to Hand-Held Texting
DEARBORN, Mich., July 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
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
As the issue of texting while driving grows in prominence nationally, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) 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
Pairing a Bluetooth-capable phone
Manually adding individual contacts into the Phonebook
Viewing received text messages on screen
WiFi Connectivity
Web browsing on the vehicle screen
Video/Photos/Graphics
Playing video
Album cover art and Phonebook photo browsing
Editing photos
Editing the screen's wallpaper or adding a new one
Navigation
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.
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.
SOURCE Ford Motor Company
A lot of things distract people from driving. Saying that we can still be distracted is not an excuse to allow more things in the car to distract.
No one can be 100% focused on driving. And no one can send a text message and be a safe driver at the same time. If you think you can, you are wrong. And just because you have done it and survived doesn't mean you were safe or right.
MythBusters did a show on TALKING ON A CELLPHONE while driving and when you are engaged in a conversation and thinking you are not paying attention to the road. Their tests showed that talking on the phone was worse than drunk driving at .07 (which is even below the limit).
Contrary to popular belief we cannot consciously multitask. We can only guess the best times to switch thought to another subject.
Looks like a big glowing wristwatch!
@inevercheckthis agree. totally thought it was a wristwatch.
@inevercheckthis I saw you lookin at it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6xCtNZMAnU&playnext_from=TL&videos=7wb8ZifTCQI
Did any of you read the press release? Look at what there blocking!! WTF!!! I'd love to have my phone more integrated into the car but there disabling everything!
Cell Phone
Pairing a Bluetooth-capable phone
Manually adding individual contacts into the Phonebook
Viewing received text messages on screen
WiFi Connectivity
Web browsing on the vehicle screen
Video/Photos/Graphics
Playing video
Album cover art and Phonebook photo browsing
Navigation
@scubaman That is RIGHT, dumbass! It SHOULD be disabled while DRIVING!!!
@cpd5c45 Your against hands free calling? GPS navigation? Traffic updates? There is no reason to block these things, they make the road safer for everyone.
@scubaman Absolutely nothing that distracts a driver makes the road safer for anyone. Period. Hands-free calling may be fine. GPS is fine as long as it is not distracting (setting destinations while driving), and traffic updates are fine as long as they are audio. The rest of the things that you mention? They should be banned. Totally.
@scubaman I didn't see gps in your list. The car would prob have it anyway
scubaman,
Shutting all those off will just make some drivers shut off the bluetooth on their phone and not even use Sync. No WiFi connectivity? How do I enable my phone as a WiFi hotspot for passengers?
@Dorf They same way that you do it on an airplane.
@scubaman You don't need navigation on the phone because the sync system has navigation built in already. Trying to put in an address while going 80 down the freeway is just as dangerous as trying to look at a map anyways.
@Ryokurin
Not all Sync systems have Nav built in.
Reading text messages is not the issue. It is the moron kids WRITING text messages while (not) driving that is the real issue here!
@cpd5c45 agreed!
@cpd5c45 Actually it's both! If you have time to read a text then you probably aren't watching the road, which isn't a good thing.
@XChrisX Absolutely. Agreed. This "totally connected" thing is really an issue on the roads. I see kids texting all the time while driving. Scares the crap out of me seeing that all the time.
@cpd5c45 with android I have voice texting lol
In GA we just passed a law that teens can't use the phone at all while driving. I see some unintended consequences. It seems to me that texting is both more dangerous and more difficult to enforce than voice calls. Some teens exclusively text anyway, but some still use the phone for actual calls. Those teens will now have an incentive to switch to texting while driving because they will be less likely to get caught than holding the phone up to their ear. Even mom and pop will think oh, I forgot to tell McKenzie one last thing; I'll call--no--better send a text. More discreet. Don't want a fine. Now we've pushed the last of our teens into exclusively texting while driving. Great!
Obviously I'm in favor of just the texting ban; not the voice ban. If texting didn't exist, then a voice ban would just be a voice ban. But now it's an incentive to text.
@dantzig I am in favor of requiring auto manufacturers to install jammers that disable cell phones entirely when the car is not in park. Over and out.
@cpd5c45 FCC, yo.
@Openwave Say what? There are passive jammers, little person.
@cpd5c45 Your idea won't happen because what happens when someone is on a some isolated road or just drives off the road and crashes their car and is then incapacitated. But they can't call 911 because their car won't let them? that's not going to work. If movie theaters are having trouble installing cellphone jammers so people don't disrupt others watching a movie I can't fathom how car manufactures are going to be able to get this to fly when the chance of having an emergency while driving a vehicle is exponentially greater than the chance of there being an emergency in a movie theater.
How many of you have seen big rig drivers texting? I have and its scary =[
@Openwave I see it all the time.
@Openwave
Not sure if texting was involved, but have you seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJic8Z4Tx9Q
you forgot putting on make-up.
very important for some women.
@Engadget
I lol'd at that last part. And I truly needed that. Thanks Engadget!
I've always wondered what a car interface from Apple would look like.
Some distractions are good while driving. Ever heard of Road affixiation where someone gets so intense in watching the road that they get distracted or fall asleep. They suggest looking away from the road every now in then to avoid this. I know I have used a cell phone conversation while driving extremely late at night to keep me from getting drowsy or getting fixed on the road. I don't believe in texting while driving but I don't believe the answer is taking away every distraction (which is impossible) or you're just asking for more of the same in the case of accidents. No distractions=boredom=lack of attention paid to others=accidents.
@nascar2829
You should not be driving if you are not awake and alert. The fact that people are would talk on their cellphones in order to stay awake on the road scares the crap out of me.
I'm not a fan of Ford or Microsoft, but believe it or not I am open minded when it comes to technology. All the reviews, both professional and personal that I've read about Sync say it's awesome. And I like technology that is awesome. I don't think I'll go as far as buying a Ford to get it, but I would like to see some other car makers pick it up. This seems like the direction things should be going.
@Jack Ford and Microsoft kinda go together. Kinda like Apple and (f**kin) Prius.
lol, I'm just trollin'
I CAN ALREADY DO THIS WITH MY TP2 WITH WINDOWS MOBILE, I JUST HOOK UP MY BLUE TOOTH AND READS MY TEXTS, EMAIL SUBJECTS AND EVEN TELLS ME WHO IS CALLING
NICE TO SEE INTEGRATED TO A CAR THOUGH!
@daguila29
Yeah, and people used caps lock to write everything 30 years ago, you fail.
Does anyone actually have a phone where the texts can be read by Sync?
None of the phones I've owned have been compatible with that feature.
My '10 mustang has Sync. It works *ok*, but lots of time it hangs or screws up (used it with two different phones). Also, as of now I can't listen to my car's Sync voice without thinking.
I want an iPhone 4! It has the wifis. I don't care!
Maybe this can give US car makers a chance. I have a Toyota and a Volvo and both have pretty crappy UIs when it comes to audio, GPS, etc. It's kind of funny to think that software can sell cars, but who knows? Hardware has become pretty much a non-issue for PCs, I wonder if the same can happen for cars.
BMW got here first in partnership with RIM.
heck i cant eve concentrate when using hand free how is this going to make it any safer... but then again there are people that can concentrate while using hand free so this solution is perfect for them.
BETTER THIS THAN ANOTHER KID THAT GETS KILLED BECAUSE OF A PHONE CALL !!!!!!
If only FORD SYNC system could also take text message dictations and then convert them into text to send via the Celphone all done hands free. Then that would be great !!
wait ford's promoting SYNC now? holy crap
Driving safely requires 100% of your attention. People caught talking or texting on a phone while driving should forfeit both their car AND their phone.