Ford Motor Co. is providing third-party mobile application developers access to the in-car information and entertainment system Ford Sync.

The automobile giant wanted to make driving safer for consumers by integrating a voice-control interface and one-touch mechanisms to improve driving conditions for smartphone users by letting them safely use their applications while driving.

?When we went out into the marketplace, we saw stats that a lot of people are using mobile apps in their vehicle, we looked at people using their phones and text messaging in the car and said ?We can make it safer by providing a voice interface via Sync,? said Doug van Dagens, director of connected services at Ford, Detroit.

?These apps are getting more and more prevalent, and a voice or one-touch interface on the steering wheel is much safer than what people are doing today,? he said.

?In terms of target demographic, we have found that sales people and business people really like it, moms love safety of the 911 interface and kids love the music and entertainment aspects, so it has pretty widespread appeal.?

Ford Sync is designed to provide convergence between automotive and consumer devices such as smartphones.

Last year about 70 percent of Ford?s vehicles were equipped with Sync, while in 2010 about 80 percent will be.

Ford Sync has been updated to let consumers turn their automobiles into mobile Internet hotspots by accessing WiFi (see story).

The automaker tapped Microsoft Advertising to build awareness for the Ford Sync product via branded experiences for MSN, XBox Live and mobile (see story).

Ford Sync app strategy
Elektrobit Inc., a provider of embedded software services to the automotive and wireless industries, is working with Ford to provide an application programming interface.

The API will enable phone software developers to create new applications for the vehicle, taking advantage of the input mechanisms and vehicle data the platform provides?including voice and one-touch.

With this ongoing collaboration, Ford and Elektrobit will continue to expand the current feature set of Ford Sync, while providing third-party mobile applications with secure access to the Ford Sync platform.

Elektrobit has been working with Ford since 2007 to bring new features to Sync, including Vehicle Health Report, 911 Assist and turn-by-turn directions.

Providing third-party developers of phone platforms with a Ford Sync-enabled API will significantly help create new applications, according to Elektrobit.

For example, it took only a few weeks to develop a phone demo application providing the vehicle occupants with Ford Sync control of Pandora Internet radio stations.

?Elektrobit has partnered with us to help us write and integrate a lot off the in-vehicle apps that sit on top of the Microsoft-embedded Sync platform,? Mr. van Dagens said. ?We had a really intense marketing campaign when we first introduced it?we had a big initial push back then to educate dealers and make them aware of the technology.

?Now that more people are becoming aware of it, if we have an ad for a new vehicle, we make sure we mention Sync, but we?re not running a campaign focused solely on it anymore,? he said. ?We?ve added a lot of personalized access to information, connected it to MapQuest, connected off-board business search and points-of-interest database and updated graphical navigation.

?We?re making sure people can get access to the information they need and spread that throughout the vehicle.?