Ford announced the next generation of its voice-control “infotainment” car system on Thursday. It seems that Ford is trying to get back in everyone’s good graces by tossing the name MyFord Touch and rebranding it as Sync 3. Ford’s also ditching Microsoft’s software in favor of BlackBerry’s QNX operating system, according to reports. Sync 3 is Ford’s third generation of the interactive, touchscreen car system that’s used for things like controlling music and mapping driving routes.
After being repeatedly punished in consumer surveys, Ford Motor unveiled the third generation of its Sync in-car connectivity system Thursday with a promise that it will be simpler and have a more natural voice-command interface. It is a whole new system that drops past partner Microsoft for Canada’s QNX software from Blackberry. And it drops the MyFordTouch and MyLincolnTouch names for Sync 3. The Ford-Microsoft relationship dates back to meetings between Bill Ford and Bill Gates and led to the introduction of Sync in 2007. But the Microsoft-based system has suffered from bugs over the years which affected quality scores for Ford and Lincoln vehicles. The QNX system allows Ford to create an infotainment system with a simpler layout, larger fonts, and a touchscreen that moves with a swipe up, down or across, with pinch-to-zoom like modern tablets. The result is a system that is easier and more intuitive to use and maintains buttons and knobs for the traditionalists.
