Prior to leaving Apple in January, Peter Stern was widely considered the eventual successor to Apple Services boss Eddy Cue. Fast-forward to today and Stern has popped back up as the new head of software and services integration at Ford.
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Ford has announced its latest in-car multimedia system today, SYNC 4. The new system will bring wireless CarPlay support to some of the company’s 2020 vehicles with screen sizes ranging from 8- to 15.5-inches.
There’s good news for anyone with a 2016-model Ford. The company has announced that a software update will allow its entire fleet from that year to use both CarPlay and Android Auto. CarPlay supports all models from the iPhone 5 up, running iOS 7.1 or later.
While you can take your car to a dealer to do the update for you, that isn’t necessary as there are a couple of DIY options …
The all-new Ford Expedition offers more than 40 new features and driver-assist technologies, including a Wi-Fi hotspot that supports as many as 10 devices at once, SYNC® 3, and power for passengers in every row, with four 12-volt power points, six USB chargers and a 110-volt power outlet.
The latest vehicles to include Apple’s CarPlay platform built-in are being announced this week at or alongside the Chicago Auto Show. Dodge’s new 2018 Durango and Subaru’s 2018 Legacy are followed by an announcement from Ford unveiling the all-new Expedition that like its predecessor will come equipped with a CarPlay-enabled in-dash system.
Ford today announced that its first vehicle to offer support for Apple’s iPhone-connected, in-dash CarPlay system will be the 2017 Escape going on sale in May.
Rumors of Apple Car (codename ‘Project Titan’) continue to swirl and there’s plenty time left for Apple to solidify or change its plans, given the expected launch of the new automobile is still five years away. However, that isn’t stopping car company executives weighing in on the rumors. Whilst GM execs diss the idea of Apple investing in an electric car as a ‘gigantic money pit’, an executive from Ford seems enthused by the prospect. In an interview with Trusted Reviews, Don Butler, Executive Director for Ford Connected Vehicles, said that they welcome competition and thinks technology companies can pull it off.
“We welcome others joining. We welcome the activity that’s in the space. We think it’s exciting. It’s actually changed that we are embracing,” said Butler, speaking to TrustedReviews at the CES 2016 tradeshow in Las Vegas. “So I think Apple can do it. I think Google can do it.”
Watch the full interview in the video after the break …
Ford has announced that CarPlay will be coming this spring to all 2017 models equipped with its Sync 3 infotainment system. The 2017 Escape will be the first model to get it (like most car manufacturers, Ford starts selling its 2017 models early this year). The system will also support Android Auto.
Ford was one of the first car manufacturers to sign up to CarPlay, but aside from telling us it would be integrated with its own infotainment system Sync, the company had gone rather quiet since then.
If you’re now kicking yourself that you bought a 2016 model last year, don’t worry …
Ford may be taking its time to equip its vehicles with CarPlay, but the manufacturer has good news for owners of older Fords: it has today announced a software update to add Siri Eyes Free support to more than five million vehicles dating back to 2011. The update is for vehicles equipped with Ford’s own infotainment system, SYNC.
Ford today is releasing a new software update for more than 5 million SYNC-equipped vehicles dating back to the 2011 model year, adding more convenience for Apple iPhone users with Siri Eyes-Free capability.
Ford Electronics director Sherif Marakby said: “Siri Eyes-Free is another great voice-activated feature that not only adds convenience but helps our customers keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.”
While Siri Eyes Free has been rather eclipsed by CarPlay, it’s still a useful halfway house …
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Ford has updated its MyFord Mobile iPhone app to add Apple Watch support for its three electric and hybrid cars. The Watch app allows you to get walking directions back to your car, check battery status and range, lock and unlock the car, start it remotely and check a range of stats …
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Ford was one of the first car manufacturers to announce its intentions to add support for Apple’s CarPlay to its in-dash systems. Questions concerning how Ford plans to integrate Apple’s solution, however, have remained since the initial announcement. In an interview with Re/code today, Ford CEO Mark Fields clarified some of the details regarding the company’s plans to offer CarPlay (and Android Auto) in its vehicles.
In the last few weeks we’ve heard about a poaching war between Apple and Tesla, a couple hires by Apple from the auto industry, and a whole lot of speculation followed by reports that Apple has a team of hundreds working on an electric vehicle. But who exactly is working on the project at Apple?
We can learn a lot about the scope of the research Apple is doing from the talent on the team, so we’ve talked to our sources and compiled a list of some key employees Apple has hired and assigned to the project.
A couple things we learn from the hires: Evident by this long list of automotive experts, it’s clear Apple’s ambitions go well beyond just its iOS-based CarPlay in-dash system. Well beyond software too, as many of the names below are hardware engineers coming from Tesla, Ford and other notable automotive related areas. In fact, the majority of employees on this list that are reporting to team leader Steve Zadesky come from an automotive hardware background and many only joined Apple recently or around the time Cook reportedly approved the electric car project.
We learned today that Ford is staffing up a research and development center in Silicon Valley located in Palo Alto, California, and heading the automaker’s new R&D facility is a former Apple engineer.
Dragos Maciuca, who served as a senior controls systems engineer with mobile technologies at Apple since early 2013, will head the research center’s 125 scientists and researchers, Ford told CNBC.
Prior to his tenure at Apple, Maciuca worked in various technology and research roles including for automakers Nissan and BMW.
As for what the former Apple engineer will focus on at Ford, Reuters has this:
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Automatic Labs and Ford Motors are announcing today a new partnership to bring the Automatic Link accessory to more people and add more functionality to the platform. Ford Motors and Automatic Labs will work together to develop features to both the Automatic platform and Ford Sync, the automaker’s in-car infotainment system.
By integrating with Ford’s Sync platform, for example, Automatic users will be able to connect the in-car Sync button to the popular If This Then That automatic service. This turns the push-to-talk button into a one push button for a variety of programmable automation tasks in the car. The two companies say more enhancements will roll out soon through the partnership.
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Ford’s recently departed CEO and President Alan Mulally may have just joined Google’s Board of Directors, but the automobile company is handing its smartphone allegiance over to Apple. A Ford spokesperson tells Bloomberg the automobile manufacturer is positioned to replace its employee BlackBerry smartphones with company-issued iPhones to be used by its global workforce.
“We are going to get everyone on iPhones,” Tatchio said. “It meets the overall needs of the employees because it is able to serve both our business needs in a secure way and the needs we have in our personal lives with a single device.”
Having all employees on the same smartphone will improve security and simplify information technology management, Tatchio said. Ford is making “no extra investment” to convert to iPhones, other than the cost of replacing the devices, she said.
According to Bloomberg’s report, Ford will distribute Apple’s iPhone to 3,300 company employees by the end of this year while the goal is to replace 6,000 phones within the next two years. The report also notes Ford is hiring for a position to monitor global corporate iPhone deployment. Globally, Ford employs about 181,000 employees although it’s unclear from the report how many receive company-issued cell phones.
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Following Spotify’s update early last month, Amazon has updated its Cloud Player iOS app today with support for Ford’s voice-controlled SYNC AppLink platform that allows users to control supported apps on their smartphones through voice commands and buttons on the steering wheel. The update brings Ford SYNC compatibility to the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as improved VoiceOver support and other enhancements.
The updated app will allow users with access to Ford’s SYNC platform in their vehicles to stream songs, albums, and playlists straight from the cloud or stored on the user’s device.
– Now supports Ford Sync on iPhone and iPod touch
– Improved experience when adding songs to a playlist
– Improved VoiceOver support
