connected car

The Connected Car News – Everything you need to know about how to connect your smartphone, iPhone, iPad, tablet or any other device to your car through Wi-Fi, Bluetooh, Ligtning connectors, USB, HDMI, DLNA and other means. We cover trends of connected cars that almost drive themsleves

New Connected Car Ford SYNC 3 goes further with voice & Wi-Fi updates

FORSYNC3Ford introduced SYNC 3, its new entertainment system with voice commands and faster speeds that will be coming on new Ford cars, next year.

The voice recognition is more conversational and the touchscreen is more smartphone-like. Software can be updated via a local secure Wi-Fi network.

Ford considered recommendations from drivers, researchers and testing while developing SYNC 3 while making it optimized for hands-free use.

The interface offers faster responses to touch as well as voice commands and smartphone-like gestures including pinch-to-zoom and swipe are central to SYNC 3, along clean clear graphics.

Under dark conditions the screen automatically switches to a dark background to help reduce eye fatigue and minimize reflections on the windows.

The home screen features three zone choices – Navigation, Audio and Phone to make it easier to use.

With SYNC 3, when you say “play, song, artist, album or genre, that prompts the system to play the desired song, artist, playlist or album. To change back to a radio station, the user just says the name of the SiriusXM station or terrestrial radio station number. Voice search doesn’t have to exact.

SYNC 3 allows for Siri Eyes-Free control, by holding down the steering wheel button.

AppLink allows customers to connect their smartphone to their vehicle and control their compatible apps using voice commands or buttons on the vehicle display screen. AppLink now automatically discovers smartphone apps including Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, NPR One, SiriusXM Radio and iHeartRadio Auto, and displays their unique graphics and branding. Music and news apps are automatically displayed along with other media sources, just like AM/FM or SiriusXM. SYNC 3 also offers subscription-free emergency service 911 Assist.

The driver’s Bluetooth-connected phone is used to dial 911 in case of an accident. With SYNC 3, the car relays additional information, including if airbags were deployed, the type of crash (front, side, rear or rollover) and the number of safety belts detected in use,  to help emergency call dispatchers.

Honda & Edge3 patent gesture/voice control system

EDGE3 Technologies and Honda R&D patented their in-vehicle human machine interface (HMI) system that combines voice and gesture recognition. In other words, you can control

BMW News: i8 wins MPG & AB Awards – Spotify for iPhone for BMW ConnectedDrive

SpotifyBMW was a big award winner at the LA Auto Show and Germany.  Music lovers will be glad that iOS/iPhone Spotify now works with BMW ConnectedDrive and the iDrive controller.

The BMW i8 was named the winner of Autoblog’s 2014 Technology of the Year for its suite of technologies. AutoBlog, editor, Sharon Silke Carty reported, “The BMW i8 has a throaty exhaust note when accelerating. It’s got carbon fiber, and a plug-in hybrid system that uses a small 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine and an electric motor. It has through-the-road all-wheel drive, and in Europe it’ll come with laser beams for headlights. All that, and it’s a massive eye catcher.”