Ford SYNC allows drivers to bring nearly any
mobile phone or
digital media player into their vehicle and operate them using voice commands, the vehicle’s steering wheel, or radio controls.
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The technology was announced by Ford President and CEO
Alan Mulally at the annual North American International Auto Show in January 2007. Microsoft Chairman
Bill Gates made an appearance via live satellite.
Ford SYNC allows various portable digital music players (i.e., the
iPod and
Zune) and
Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones to be operated with simple voice commands. SYNC can even receive text messages and read them aloud using a digitized female voice “Samantha.” SYNC can interpret a hundred or so shorthand messages such as
LOL for “laughing out loud” and will read swear words; it won’t however, decipher obscene acronyms.
It is priced as a $395 option.
