Ford EcoSport has voice-controlled Spotify tech in video Video

Ford EcoSport has voice-controlled Spotify tech in video Video Transcript

-Hello, I'm Luke Westaway for CNET, here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where we're a bit more accustomed to seeing mobile phones than vehicles. But nevertheless, Ford has announced that it's bringing its EcoSport SUV to Europe. The EcoSport has Ford's EcoBoost engine inside it. That's a 1-liter, 3-cylinder engine. It's already out in South America so this isn't a completely new car we're seeing. But, what is new is some of the mobile voice control tech that you get on the inside. So, Ford has this service called AppLink which lets you do voice control for apps once you're sat inside the car, and that service is coming to Europe with Spotify in tow. Now the way that works is you plug your phone in via USB, that's if you're using an iPhone. If you got an Android or Blackberry phone, then it will work wirelessly. There's no support for Windows phone though, unfortunately. Once you're hooked up, you press this button on the steering wheel, which lets you make voice commands. So, you basically have to ask, "Open mobile apps", "Open Spotify," and then you can give orders like "shuffle my songs" or you can choose specific playlist. If you want to hear the available options, you just say "help" to the voice control system and it will reel off all of the things that you can say. As a safety measure, once you're actually connected, the phone will get this Ford-branded lock screen and that means that you can't use the app itself so that you have to keep your eyes on the road and don't get tempted to start meddling with the interface yourself. I love the idea of being able to control apps using your voice while you're driving so you can keep your eyes on the road. He's hoping that more app developers bring their software to Ford's App Link System soon. -Please choose a playlist to play. -Maccabeus. Something you do need to be aware of, of course, is that while you're driving, you probably won't have Wi-Fi and if you've got 3G, it's gonna be a bit shaky. So you'll want to download all of the songs to Spotify's offline mode, saving them on the phone. One slightly less frivolous benefit of Ford's sync technology, is if you have an accident, it could automatically send GPS coordinates to emergency services so they can come out and help you as soon as possible. I have to say, I quite like the style of this car and I even like the orange color that it's got going on here. It's gonna be coming out at the end of 2013 in Europe. I'm Luke Westaway for CNET and this is the Ford EcoSport.