Ford plans to offer more smartphone like experiences with sync 4

Posted 2024-07-21 00:00:00 +0000 UTC

Smart phones have now become the standard to measure the car's infotainment system. Due to the long development cycle and the lack of connectivity between cars and mobile phones, it is difficult for automakers to meet customer expectations. However, this situation is gradually improving, and it is ready to introduce the 2021 Mustang mach-e electric vehicle sync 4 to make up the gap. The core of the sync 4 electronic platform is a new NXP chip, which has twice the processing power of the previous generation. The program can use voice control as well as sync 3, but the computing power of sync 4 enables it to process and interpret natural language commands more quickly. In order to be able to use "cloud computing technology" to deliver results with higher reliability and accuracy, and even if users are required to provide clarification information when additional information is needed, the vehicle embedded modem is always in working state. However, the system may encounter a signal blind area when it is connected to the Internet, which requires some prompts from the driver to find out the answer. Sync 4 can not only talk to the infotainment system like an assistant or apple Siri, but also use artificial intelligence to learn the habits of the driver, customize 8-inch or 15.5-inch touch screen and shortcut to improve the operation performance according to the use mode of the driver. If the user usually listens to some radio stations in the morning, the system will automatically provide these buttons at the top, and will reconfigure the display results according to the user's needs when returning home. "In the past, drivers may need to learn how to use sync 3, find out how its commands are built, or click multiple times to find the right function," said Gary jablenski, chief engineer at sync But now, automated customization makes the system more intuitive. For consumers, the biggest achievement of sync 4 may be the ability to use both smart phones and local systems on a 15 inch touch screen. "In Mach e electric vehicles, our database will be the best of its kind, so customers may use our navigation system, and of course they may want to play podcasts on Carplay." There are some application functions that can connect to Bluetooth devices, making the operation more convenient. But Jablonski also acknowledged Ford's shortcomings in finding a very specific place of interest. Google, apple and even Microsoft all have constantly updated enterprise databases and address databases, and their depth and breadth provide advantages for their respective enterprises. Ford has worked with several leading data providers to achieve similar results. However, it is difficult to gain advantages if the information disclosed by users in search is not mined in crawling websites and special browsers. Smart phones have their limitations. Due to the existence of signal blind area, in some places the connection speed of mobile phone is often too slow to be maddening. Because many drivers need to maintain broadband access at all times, in most cases, the vehicle embedded navigation system is essential. "To make up for the lack of mobile signals, sync 4 has a built-in map that allows users to navigate home from the park even if they lose their network connection in the National Park," jablenski said As with mobile phones, to maximize the use of cloud technology, you need to use embedded modems for data connections. In Mustang mach-e, after the free trial phase, owners must subscribe or add vehicles to their existing data plans. Sync 4 can work in the disconnected state, but many advanced functions, such as more complete natural language understanding, music streaming services, the ability to find specific points of interest (POI) in the navigation database, etc., require the use of embedded modems. Of course, at this time, smart phones can no longer be a hot spot for Internet. Since Google assistant, apple Siri and Amazon Alexa are already available on smartphones, it may be difficult for consumers to find a reason to pay extra for what they have more or less, and sync 4 does not offer Alexa's payment capabilities. However, Jablonski said that if they think this function will resonate with customers, it is possible to realize cloud business interaction in technology. The appeal of these features remains to be seen. Ford introduced Mustang mach-e at the 2019 Los Angeles International Auto Show and encountered technical difficulties in demonstrating sync 4, which made it impossible for attendees to test the car's sync 4 features. But Ford said that even if consumers decide not to fully enable sync 4 in the future, they will feel a better and more smartphone like experience than sync 3.

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