Cars these days are light years ahead of what they were just a couple short decades ago. Old school mechanics used to say that there were just three things you had to know in order to ensure your car’s engine was working properly: “Suck. Bang. Blow.” Now, it seems that each of those three stages is broken down into subsets where sensors, timers, and controllers all get together to specify how much, how long, and when for each of these stages. The Jetsons cartoons of the Sixties and Seventies told us that we’d be heading toward cars that basically drove themselves, and now we’re beginning to see this become reality. Ford isn’t quite looking at driver-less cars yet, but the things they are looking at in the tech realm are pretty futuristic.
Ford Smartwatch Apps Are Reminiscent of Knight Rider
“Hey KITT, how you doing buddy?” That’s what the recent story out of Ford about a smartwatch app brings immediately to mind. NO, they’re not quite at the stage where your car will answer and tell you vocally that it’s doing OK and that all systems are “in the green”, but they’re getting there. The apps will allow owners of plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles determine the state of charge and projected range remaining before going on trips. Even more reminiscent of Knight Rider is the fact that you can query your car about where it’s parked, among other things. “KITT come get me” doesn’t sound too far away or too “out there” when you think about it.
According to David Hatton Ford manager for Connected Vehicles and Services, “The app gives drivers the ability to quickly check important data like available range before leaving on a journey-without having to access the mobile application on their smartphone. The app can also notify users when their car is fully charged, helping a driver be courteous to other electric vehicle owners so they can free up the charging spot or avoid fees applied at some charging stations when you overrun your time after the charge is complete.” The apps were designed for smartwatches running both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android with either round or square watch faces.
The MyFord Mobile apps were designed to complement the MyFord Mobile platform, which Ford debuted in 2012. Some of their features include:
- Capability to remotely turn on the vehicle’s HVAC system to get the inside temperature comfortable before getting in the car.
- Obtain a last trip summary which includes your personal driving score and percentage of electric vehicle miles.
- Obtain walking or driving directions back to where you parked your car.
- Remote lock and unlock.
- Mileage summary.
- Charge and range status for battery electric and plug-in hybrids.
Ford Enhances SYNC Applink to Allow App Developers More Freedom and Creativity
This is another one that brings back memories of that 80s series about the crime-fighting talking car. Ford’s SYNC has been around for a while. It started out as basically a way to enhance the driving experience by allowing voice control of the vehicle’s audio system-“Play ‘The Beatles’ “ and your whole Beatles discology would be played. SYNC 3 takes that idea to new levels where it seems that only the imagination of developers is the limit. However, one can be easily forgiven for thinking that the days of “Hey car! Where are you, come get me!” aren’t far off, considering their current capabilities.
New tools that Ford released to developers include a development kit for the SYNC 3 technology and a vehicle data simulator software development kit. These new releases mean that developers don’t need immediate access to a vehicle to create a functioning app for it. Developers will be able to create apps that make use of both the touchscreen as well as the advanced voice recognition interfaces to create exciting apps to further enhance the driving experience of owners.
“Ford challenges developers to find new and exciting ways to improve the in-vehicle user experience. For the first time, Ford is giving developers the resources to help make vehicle-specific apps with new capabilities and tools to design experiences based on real-time vehicle information.” Said Doug VanDagens, Ford Global Director, Connected Services Solutions.
Sync Applink™ gives drivers the ability to use voice-control of smartphone apps and display the apps of the SYNC screen in the car just as they appear on the phone’s screen. There are now a dozen design templates for developers to help them develop a specific look and feel for their apps. According to Ford, this latest set of Applink application programming interfaces (APIs) delivers several new capabilities to developers including:
- Access to real-time vehicle information from various vehicle sensors to allow for customization and personalization of the app experience.
- Using in-vehicle notifications developers can send push notifications to drivers through the vehicles audio systems and displays in a way similar to what they see on their phones.
- Voice pass-through gives developers the ability to take advantage of voice-activated cloud-based services.
Ford Names Driving Rating App Winner at SYNC Applink Developer Conference
Ford held a conference for Applink developers in San Francisco recently. During the conference they gave developers access to the new tools and platforms mentioned above, while also challenging developers to come up with new and exciting apps to enhance driver’s in-car driving experience. Part of this challenge was a competition to come up with a “Best In Class App” of sorts.
The winner of this competition was Rockfish, a Digital Innovation company and their MyStreetCred app. MyStreetCred is billed as a driving report card app. The app monitors your driving habits and gives you feedback, in the form of a report card, about how you drive. Rockfish developers Kyle Alderman, Warner Skoch, Lauren Pels, and Jarrod Ramsey used the newest set of Applink APIs and SYNC 3 capabilities which included real-time vehicle data from a number of onboard sensors to create the app.
Scott Burnell, Global Lead, Partner Management, Ford Developer Program had this to say: “We’re thrilled to see the innovation and ideas from the teams that participated in this year’s Developer Conference. MyStreetCred stood out because of its innovative use of the new SYNC Applink developer tools that leverage vehicle information to create dynamic apps in the car.”