CES 2009: SYNC updated with Traffic, Directions and Information

Filed under: Gadgets, CES, Ford

Ford and Microsoft debuted SYNC at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show, updated the system at last year's event and now keep the tradition alive with more enhancements for 2009. The next iteration of SYNC will sport new features able to take full advantage of a user's GPS-enabled bluetooth smartphone.

Boiled down to the bare essentials, these features are summed up as Traffic, Directions and Information. The Traffic feature sends texts messages with traffic alerts to the user's phone, or the SYNC system can read them aloud in the car. The Directions function mimics a full-feature navigation system by displaying directions on the radio and speaking them audibly through the sound system. And finally there's information, which allows users to access sports, weather and news of all types through SYNC.

The best part is that all of these features follow you to any vehicle equipped with SYNC via your smartphone. Ford even claims that the iPhone works with these new capabilities despite the fact Apple limits the phone's Bluetooth capability and AT&T doesn't allow data tethering. We'll be sure to get more details on how all this works later today when we meet with Ford execs and get a demonstration.

The big Blue Oval says it will offer these new SYNC features on almost all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles with three years of service included right up front. Check out Ford's full press release and see a video demonstrartion of the new features after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading CES 2009: SYNC updated with Traffic, Directions and Information

CES 2009: SYNC updated with Traffic, Directions and Information originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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