Ford AppLink Brings Smartphone Navigation Apps to Vehicle Touch Screen
Weeks after Ford introduced its next-generation SYNC® 3 in-vehicle connectivity system, the company is rolling out Ford SYNC AppLink™ 3.0 next year, giving customers the ability to access their favorite compatible navigation app – much as they do on a smartphone – on in-vehicle touch screens.
Noted Joe Beiser, Ford director, Connected Services for Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa,“The next version, AppLink 3.0, leverages open-source SmartDeviceLink functionality to give developers a method to project graphics – such as maps – onto our vehicle touch screens.”
This next version of AppLink benefits from the open-source SmartDeviceLink initiative that is driving new feature innovation.
As part of that project, Ford is working with Alibaba, a global consumer Internet service, to extend the group’s map, navigation and music services to vehicles.
This has led to the integration of SmartDeviceLink into AutoNavi, Alibaba’s app for navigation services, demonstrating how it can be projected onto a vehicle touch screen for seamless use – just like on a smartphone.
The collaboration with Alibaba is also putting more emphasis on development of SmartDeviceLink. Sharing Ford’s vision of a truly open-source smartphone-linking technology, Alibaba will not only integrate SmartDeviceLink into apps, but also become an active contributor driving evolution of the project.
Category: Driver Stuff, Featured, General Update
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