Oct

Ford Explorer Coming to City Plaza

At Noon on Tuesday (10/26) Craig Patterson, Explorer Marketing Manager for Ford will be in Raleigh’s City Plaza to unveil the 2011 Ford Explorer. The reinvented car no longer sits on a truck chassis, and features the world’s first inflatable seatbealts and 30% better fuel efficiency.

All of that is nice, but what is really worth checking out is the latest generation of the phenomenal Ford Sync system, called MyFord Touch. The new version continues Sync’s fantastic bluetooth connectivity for phone and audio, and expands the abilities of navigation and climate control. Two new features include turning the car into a WiFi hotspot and iTunes tagging support from the HD radio. There is also support for USB keyboards, RSS feeds, an additional USB socket, an SD Card slot, enhanced podcast support, and more. For more information, see Mashable’s excellent writeup of MyFord Touch, as did Joelfeder.com .

Clearly the next battleground for car makers is on the dashboard, and Ford has the early lead here. Be sure to take this opportunity to see what is going on in this space.

Daria

It is about time cars featured USB ports since most phones are charged by USB now. But I get a little concerned about how far this is going. I mean we already have problems with people texting and driving, now people are going to be able to use their cars as an office with wifi connectivity? People are distracted enough on the road.
Lee

You need to check out the new system MINI will be doing starting in December, called MINI Connected. http://www.motoringfile.com/2010/10/19/mf-review-mini-connect-with-video/

I don’t think voice recognition will be in initially, but it has complete integration with a smartphone (iPhone initially and Android expected soon after) such that the app on the phone changes the features on the car side system.

It will use the 3G signal from the phone to do Twitter (text to speech reading and posting of limited tweets like location and such) as well as a RSS voice reader and internet radio. Due to the app nature of it, they can add things in the future.

The future is looking pretty cool as far as dashboard electronics goes.
CarnifeX

Now, only if we could do away with that pesky driving part… then they’d really be on to something.

I like driving, however, my morning commute would become much more productive if I didn’t have to worry about driving!
RonT

CarnifeX – I just read that Google is testing cars that may be perfect for you…they drive themselves. Supposedly, they are doing very well. Not eating, putting on make-up, talking on the phone, texting surely gives them the upperhand.

As for the new Explorer – 30% better than dismal gas mileage is little to cheer about in my view.

But, I am glad Ford is doing well.

gogoraleigh.com

Ford Explorer Coming to City Plaza

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