ford

Ford adding Facebook features to Sync

To look up an event location on Facebook, Ford wants drivers to ask Sync for directions--and put down the phone.

Ford engineers are testing how drivers can use the Sync AppLink system to tap into Facebook with voice commands. The automaker says social integration is the next evolution for its voice-controlled Sync system, and accessing Facebook events is just one example already being developed.

In a demonstration for CNET, SyncApp Link Product Manager Julius Marchwicki had Sync announce upcoming Facebook events, his RSVP status, and the venue locations. The next steps, he said, would be to get directions to the … Read more

Bill Ford: Computing tech will upend the auto industry

BARCELONA--Bill Ford, bitten by the Silicon Valley bug, has dreams of a fast-moving Detroit at the heart of a radical overhaul of personal transportation.

As the executive chairman of Ford Motor Company and great grandson of the company founder Henry Ford, he's got deep roots in a century-old industry. Ford predicts a future, though, in which computing and communications technology is no longer an accessory but instead a primary part of a car, and in which the auto industry works on the same time scales as the electronics industry.

There was a time when technology suppliers would have a … Read more

Ford showcases customizing in 2013 Mustang ad

Ford wants consumers to get creative with the 2013 Mustang. The company debuted an ad online on Friday depicting the creativity of Ford's "Inner Mustang" customizer, which launched online last September.

Visitors to Ford's Mustang Customizer can build the Mustang V6, GT, Boss 302, or GT500 as well as choose from a pallet of custom colors, trims, wheels, and decals. The finished designs can be shared on Facebook.

According to Ford, more than 4 million digital Mustangs have been made using the customizer. But is too early to tell if the Web site has affected sales … Read more

CNET Roadside Assistance 46: How to cozy up with Siri while driving (podcast)

Siri can be great in car, but you need to do some work to get it to play ball with all your other gear.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 46 SHOW NOTES

Beyonce, Johnny Cash, and Mozart help Ford tune new Escape's stereo

The Escape SUV gets a radical model update for 2013. The car goes from a boxy small truck to a modern crossover in one swoop, and it takes a wide variety of engineers to get all the details right.

CNET talked to Ford acoustic engineer Christine Templin, who is currently working on tuning the audio reproduction of the 2013 Ford Escape's stereo system.

The new model will be available with three different audio systems. Starting at the bottom is a six-speaker system with four door-mounted mid/woofers and two tweeters mounted on the car's A pillars. Next up … Read more

Ford upgrades virtual reality simulator

Ford's Virtual Test Track Experiment (Virttex) just got a major technology upgrade.

Virttex, developed in 2001, is a high-fidelity, motion-based simulator that features a dome on top of a hydraulic system to mimic vehicle movement, giving it a slight resemblance to a jellyfish.

The upgraded image rendering technologies will provide a high-res, digitally projected 360-degree horizontal field-of-view to test and measure driver acceleration, braking and steering performance as well as overall driver reactions in varying conditions. This will help Ford develop and test active safety and driver aid technologies that warn drivers of imminent collision, drowsiness and other potentially … Read more

Car Tech Live 251: U.S. goes after in-dash car tech (podcast)

Feds issue strongest position yet against distracting car tech, Tesla Model X has us excited, and confounded. Is Washington state penalizing electric car drivers? And we drive the 2012 Subaru Impreza.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 251 SHOW NOTES

Ford making Sync standard on Fusion, Flex

Ford is making it easier for a lot of its drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.

The auto manufacturer announced yesterday that it will make its industry-leading Sync voice-activation system standard on all trim levels of the 2013 Ford Fusion sedan and and Flex crossover. Sync is Ford's hands-free system for making calls or accessing the audio system. When used with Sync Services, which is free for the first three years and $60 per year thereafter, drivers can use voice commands to get turn-by-turn directions or listen to news headlines, sports … Read more

Ford Edge Ecoboost a harbinger of the new efficiency

With the 2012 Ford Edge, the Ecoboost engine is like having your cake and ice cream, too.

The Edge is a tank of a car, big and chunky, weighing close to 4,000 pounds. The Ecoboost engine only has four cylinders, with displacement at 2 liters. That's the size of a soda bottle.

Yet with a turbocharger and direct injection, that engine makes 240 horsepower, enough to move the Edge easily. At the same time, our fuel economy averaged in the mid-20s, which is about 5 mpg better than we would expect to get in the V-6 Edge.

The … Read more

Driving America exhibit shows U.S. history through automobiles

Vehicles play a big part in the last century of United States history, with such icons as the presidential limousine in which John F. Kennedy was assassinated to the bus where Rosa Parks was arrested.

These vehicles and more are on display at a new exhibit from the Henry Ford Museum called Driving America. CNET Australia took a tour of the exhibit just prior to the opening.

Click here to see the photo gallery.

Although there are some significant vehicles from Ford in the exhibit, such as the 1962 concept car on which the Mustang was based, vehicles from a … Read more