MyFord, MyLincoln - Voice Is So Passe' - VIDEO ENHANCED

MyFord, MyLincoln - Voice alone is so passe´, color every other car maker green with envy.

By Thom Cannell
Detroit Bureau
The Auto Channel

SYNC, Ford Motor’s brand of in-car media interface is a total hit and seems unmatched by any competitor in the US. As their exclusive license for this technology based on Microsoft Corporation’s MS Auto platform expires in 2010 (Kia announced a similar system called UVO) Ford and Lincoln need an upgrade. Man did they get one. MyFord and MyLincoln have the potential to be as game changing as SYNC itself was as it offers better access to your own devices (iPhone, iPod, MP3 players, others), better voice recognition, and a novel interface that, untested, looks like it slaps the others silly.

First, SYNC itself is improved. Voice commands now take one button push and one phrase instead of two which was always a pain. Now you can say “Call John Doe”, a change that was a necessary upgrade. Beyond, MyFord and MyLincoln integrate multiple colors and multiple LCD screens controlled by the common five-way thumb control. A controller under each thumb on the steering wheel controls context and action. The Left controls vehicle information like fuel economy, safety features, mechanical items and the Right thumb does audio, heating/cooling, and communication functions. You see the result either in the instrument cluster or a more detailed result on a 4.2” or 8” touch screen in the center stack. Of course the larger screen is for higher level vehicles. MyLincoln offers two LCDs in the instrument cluster and an 8” touch screen. So there are three ways to use the system, voice, controls on the center screen, and controls in the steering wheel that are echoed on the instrument cluster and center stack.

Let’s say you prefer the touch screen to voice command. Each function—heating/cooling, mobile communication, audio, and navigation–is associated with a color, for instance blue with cooling and heating. The standard touch screen is configurable to suit your habits and needs. And Lincoln has the coolest feature, touch control of volume and blower speed. Run your finger along the chrome accent and you get more, or less volume or air and a white light follows your action. It’s rather like the first Battlestar Galactica and you expect a Cylon voice to speak. The same color reference continues in the instrument cluster of Ford and Lincoln vehicles. Pressing a steering wheel control will change colors of the left and right secondary instrument, leaving the center speedometer and tachometer unaffected. It really is intuitive and highly adaptive to your particular style of automobile-as-tool use. Of course familiar buttons and switches remain for any technophobes.

Additionally, Lincoln has a new media hub with 2 USB connectors an SD card connection and the standard triple RCA connection for audio/video. The system is capable of update through SD or WiFi by users. It also offers iTunes tagging from the factory HD radio. Its capacity is 100 songs tagged by a button on the radio display and the next time you dock your iPod the list is available for preview and purchase at the iTunes Store. Of note, this shift of focus from the device to the driver has opening up, to a limited extent, the platform to developers. Like the iPhone, this may spawn a host of interesting applications that even Ford has not conceived. The technology is global so and rolls out in other countries beyond the North American Continent and will appear, in some form, on every Ford vehicle world wide.

CLICK HERE To watch the complete Ford/Lincoln MyTouch presentation at CES