Ford is using the 2017 CES technology show to announce a slew of updates to its Sync 3 infotainment system, including Amazon Echo integration, built-in 4G LTE data and Wi-Fi hotspot, and more. Nearly all of the changes come into effect for the 2018 model year, but some are on their way sooner. Here’s a rundown:
4G LTE Connectivity and Built-In Wi-Fi Hotspot
Following not so hot on the heels of General Motors’ widespread adoption of built-in 4G LTE data connections with Wi-Fi hotspots in 2015, Ford is adding the same feature to its Sync 3–equipped vehicles for the 2018 model year. When we say “the same,” we mean it—Ford, just like its crosstown rival, is relying on AT&T for its Sync Connect data stream. Users can connect up to 10 devices at a time to the included onboard Wi-Fi, and the signal is strong enough to reach devices up to 50 feet away from the vehicle. New Ford owners will be gifted a three-month free subscription to the service, and after that they may add a stand-alone AT&T data plan for their car or add their car’s service to an existing AT&T phone plan. The only hitch? The data connection requires hardware that is not fitted to today’s Sync 3 systems, meaning it will be limited to Fords from the 2018 model year forward.
Amazon Echo Integration
Amazon Echo, the brand’s personal assistant that leverages voice recognition and the Internet of Things to access and control a host of smart devices and apps, is coming to Ford’s Sync 3 platform. Well, integration of Amazon’s Alexa app (Alexa is the name of the personal assistant you talk to or at, depending on your level of loneliness) is coming to Sync 3. What that allows, though, is pretty exciting.
Courtesy of Sync’s newfound 4G LTE data connection, Echo users at home can ask their Echo unit/Alexa to remote start their car, lock or unlock the doors, check the battery charge status or fuel level, or be given a mileage summary. For now, the only Ford vehicles capable of home-to-car Alexa communication are the Ford Focus Electric, the Ford C-Max Energi, and the Ford Fusion Energi, which already come with an AT&T data connection. More Fords with the ability to abide by remote Alexa commands will follow. Car-to-home Alexa commands are being introduced a few months after the home-t0-car tricks. Beginning this summer, Ford owners with Sync 3 in their cars can prod Alexa for weather reports, play music over the cloud, check news, add items to their Amazon shopping lists, and even ask for directions and transfer the guidance to Sync 3’s built-in navigation system.
Touchscreen Navigation App Mirroring
It could be argued that widespread smartphone adoption—and the attendant navigation apps—have obviated the need to pay for expensive in-car factory navigation systems or even portable navigation devices. That may be true, but it has created a problem: drivers holding their phones or peering at the small screens while using navigation apps on the go. Ford recognizes the problem (as do we) and has adopted phone-mirroring solutions such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which can reconfigure an Apple or Google phone’s home-screen interface and select apps to appear in the Sync 3 display.
Now Ford is going one step further with its AppLink software, which integrates common smartphone apps onto Sync 3, and has added a navigation-app-specific mirroring function. Setup is simple: Just plug your phone in to the car using a USB cable, open a compatible navigation app, and it will appear full-screen on the Sync 3 display and offer control over its functions. This is great in concept, but for now only one navigation app, Sygic, works with Sync 3. Compared to Google Maps or Waze or Apple Maps, Sygic is . . . not as popular, at least here in the United States. (The app claims 150 million users worldwide.) Perhaps—or should we say we hope—Ford’s open-source AppLink software might attract Google or others to adapt their apps to this feature, because it’s slicker than a phone mount.
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