Ford Sync: Hands-free Phone, Text and Music

There was a lot to see at the Detroit auto show. Most of the time we focused on looks and performance, but Ford unveiled a new entertainment system that may truly change the way we interact with our cars. Ford partnered with Microsoft to create Sync, a small computer that is integrated into a car’s sound system. You can plug in any multimedia device that has a USB adapter — iPod, Zune, PSP, even a USB flash drive — push a button and control it by voice. Yep, it’ll recognize band names, song names and genres.

It does the same with your Bluetooth phone, too. Text messages are read and displayed as well. The look and controls perfectly mirror those of the media players, which is becoming more common, but the whole hands-free interaction is just brilliant. There’s no price attached to it yet, and that could greatly impact its acceptance. It will start being available as an option in late summer/early fall in the 2008 Ford Focus, Fusion, Five Hundred, Edge, Freestyle, Explorer and Sport Trac; Mercury Milan, Montego and Mountaineer; and the Lincoln MKX and MKZ.

The irreverent automotive blog Jalopnik got an early walk-through of the Sync in action, and they were quite impressed. Visit the official Sync website, with the unfortunate name of www.syncmyride.com.

Source: Ford