Ford Unveils MyFord Touch, Upgrades Sync

BY JOSEPH PALENCHAR

Ford came to International CES to add new functions to its Sync system and launch its MyFord Touch user interface, wheel, two 4.2-inch color LCD displays flanking the speedometer, an 8-inch color touchscreen in the center stack between the driver's and front-passenger seats, and voice activation to control a vehicle's entertainment and information systems.

For consumers comfortable with more traditional controls, MyFord Touch also includes touch-sensitive capacitive switches in the center stack to control radio and HVAC functions.

With the launches, Ford is evolving Sync from a system that delivers voice control over a vehicle's entertainment systems, Bluetooth-connected cellphones, and USB-connected MP3 players to a system that operates as “the brains behind the center stack and instrument panel,” said Jim Buczkowski, Ford's electronics and electrical systems engineering director.

The second-generation Sync system also increases the number of USB ports to two, adds an SD Card slot and RCA A/V inputs, and adds Wi-Fi, which turns a vehicle into a mobile hot spot when a cellular USB modem is inserted.

Numerous other Sync and MyFord Touch features include turn-by-turn navigation when a navigation app on optional SD card is inserted into the system. “It will be the first time an automaker will offer something that competes with the cost and ease of personal navigation devices,” the company claimed.

iTunes-tagging HD Radio and Sirius/XM satellite radio are also available with MyFord and Sync, as well as the display of album cover art, photos and video stored on a connected MP3 player or SD card.

Voice commands will be available for select climate-control functions and most AM/FM, HD Radio and Sirius/XM functions.

MyFord Touch Powered by Sync, which is built on the Microsoft Auto 4.0 OS, will appear over time on a range of vehicles from small affordable cars to Lincolns, where the technology will be known as MyLincoln Touch.

The first vehicle with MyFord Touch will be the 2011 Ford Edge, due later this year, followed globally by the 2012 Ford Focus. MyLincoln Touch will be standard on new Lincolns beginning with the 2011 Lincoln MKX, also due later this year. By 2015, about 80 percent of Ford's North American models will have the technology, the company said.