SOUNDBITES: MYFORD TOUCH DRIVER CONNECT TECHNOLOGY
The new MyFord Touch driver connect technology announced today at the 2010 International CES is designed to be powerful yet intuitive for drivers, blending strengths of the most proven interfaces in consumer electronics – including MP3 players and mobile phones – with a new generation of Ford’s award-winning SYNC system. Jim Buczkowski, director of Global electrical and Electronics Systems Engineering for Ford Motor Company says, MyFord Touch is really about bringing a better user inner face so that customers have more direct access to all the information to make their driving experience a much better one as well as keeping it safe.
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"Now SYNC becomes the center of the system and in fact the audio head-unit and other things become peripherals to SYNC & then SYNC commands and controls those through voice controls and the touch and so on." :10 sec. |
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Buczkowski went on to explain how MyFord Touch has been designed to simplify the connectivity experience, using navigation as an example. |
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"You can do a one shot destination, which means rather than breaking it up into pieces SYNC asking for the navigation system asking for the state first, then asking for the city and the for the street address, you can give a one shot city, street, state all in one shot." :16 sec. |
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MyFord really is about managing information. Driving is the priority, so this new technology allows customers to drive with minimal distraction, through voice recognition. |
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"The point here is that we’re trying to allow for customization and personalization and so we can offer a SYNC System through My Ford touch or My Lincoln touch configuration so you can make it as simple or as detailed as you want. If you want more information you can adjust it that way, if you want to keep it simple and just want the basics you can adjust the basics for yourself." :22 sec. |
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According to Buczkowski MyFord Touch is trying to understand and respect that customers are very diverse when it comes to this technology. Some are really tech savvy while others are not, and as he says this new technology allows you to satisfy both. It seamlessly allows you to touch-in information or do it by voice command. |
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"The way we’re merging this and we call it Multi-modal you can start by entering it in with the touch screen, and then the family is ready to take off I can start down the driveway and finish with voice command so these things are seamlessly linked together so you can use different modes at the right point in time." :16 sec. |
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The 8-inch touch-screen center stack display is the key interface on MyFord Touch. Buczkowski says designers employed a four-corner solution for its layout, representing the four activities most important to customers: navigation, climate and audio/entertainment functions and phone. |
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"If you’ve got 500 people in your address book, there is just no way you’re going to be able cycle through on a touch screen in fact because of driver distraction we limit how many screens and how many touches you can go through while you’re driving down the road, so voice is really the best way to make that work.":14 sec. |
| MyFord technology will not be exclusive to high-end products. As new and refreshed Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models continue to arrive on the world stage, all will be outfitted with an implementation of My Ford driver connect technology. |
