Thread: Ford Sync version 3 at Detroit Telematics 2009

So none of the tech is in the car... It piggy backs your cell phone's voice plan, and just dials some call centre with an automated line. I see nothing new or innovative about this. Voice recognition is nothing new and the car is not even doing it, some server on the other end of the phone is.

Does it at least display the data on the screen? Like when it announced the NHL scores, did the display in the car show the score and teams, or was it just the voice link?

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

So none of the tech is in the car... It piggy backs your cell phone's voice plan, and just dials some call centre with an automated line. I see nothing new or innovative about this. Voice recognition is nothing new and the car is not even doing it, some server on the other end of the phone is.

Does it at least display the data on the screen? Like when it announced the NHL scores, did the display in the car show the score and teams, or was it just the voice link?

I know it isn't news worthy compared to other stuff happening on the forums, but here is why I think i is interesting:

• Mp3car users have been doing this in the car for 5 years or more. It is finally reaching mass market. It is great to have one of ford's engineers give us a tour.
• It is a great example of cloud type servics deployed in the car.
• They are leveraging existing low cost consumer products for a very rich experience
• In the past it took car companies a decade to bring stuff like this to markeet. This is a great example of how car companies are speeding up their technical product life cycles to be more in line with consumer product life cycles. It is also in indictor of what I belive is a trend towards a lot of the rich feature processing leaving the car (phone, and cloud of services)

If that is the Taurus the interior sure is ugly. They try to make it look so futuristc with so many buttons and cheap plastics.

The car companies will take a longggggggggggggggggg time to come even close to us. There isnt even a decent screen, just a cr@ppy LCD on whats supposed to be Fords flag ship Car. I will admit though, its cool that it can connect to all that stuff. $95.00 dollars a year, I dont know about that, Im not that lazy, so I dont mind picking up a keyboard and going to a site and getting the same info. I am curious if Sync 3 had that same garbage for phone, where when in a phone conversation when you talk, you have to hold in the voice button, or did they actually come out with a Echo cancellation system, like Salmizar did for Centrafuse.

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

I am curious if Sync 3 had that same garbage for phone, where when in a phone conversation when you talk, you have to hold in the voice button, or did they actually come out with a Echo cancellation system, like Salmizar did for Centrafuse.

I didn't try that part. They really had push to talk for hands free in the past?

Originally Posted by Fiberoptic

I didn't try that part. They really had push to talk for hands free in the past?

It was a rumor everyoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee would tell me. In Ford's defense, all the people that told me could be full of it.

They told me that the Ford Focus Sync was like that. When the person stopped talking, you have to hit a button so they can here you.

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

So none of the tech is in the car... It piggy backs your cell phone's voice plan, and just dials some call centre with an automated line. I see nothing new or innovative about this. Voice recognition is nothing new and the car is not even doing it, some server on the other end of the phone is.

I agree. There is nothing really impressive about that. Hasn't there been phone services like that before anyway?

All that R&D money spent on early 90's tech... It's no wonder they're dieing.

$95 a year? I have been doing this in my car for FREE for a couple of years now Simply connect your hand free blue tooth, and dial 1-800-555-TELL. That's it! Now you can say sports (Will get the EXACT same thing as in the video) as well as movie's (Get movies playing and show times) weather (Just say a city and state), news and tons of other options.... even driving directions!

When I hop in the car in the morning, I hit the speed dial, say news and hear the latest up to the minute news. The news report is usually like 5 minutes long!

Did I mention.. it is ABSOLUTELY FREE

BUt does it also give you turn by turn with automatic re routing? And can it display it's info on your console? I think those are the important innovations here not the cell network as a data hub