Mentor Blogs

  In September 2011, Colorado-based app developers Danny Newman, Joe Mease and Austin Gayer decided to enter the Ford SYNC App Developer Challenge held during the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in San Francisco. They won the contest with Roximity, a smartphone app that provides real-time deals and specials on meal, clothing and several other categories relevant to a user’s location. Winning made … Read More

developer, Ford, app, SYNC AppLink, Roximity, Smartphone

  Ford offers AppLink, an application programming interface (API) that developers can use to make their smartphone apps compatible with Ford’s SYNC infotainment system. Earlier this month General Motors revealed its plan for working with developers to bring smartphone apps to GM vehicles. The company announced a flexible application framework that includes APIs and a software development kit … Read More

Slacker, OnStar, system development kit (SDK), AppLink, Ford, application programming interface (API), The Weather Channel., HTML5 JavaScript, iheartradio, TuneIn, General Motors, GM

Automakers are looking for ways to integrate smartphone apps safely and securely into vehicle head units. Ford’s strategy for doing so is to offer its own application programming interface (API), AppLink, and it seems to be working for them. App developers interested in partnering with Ford can (re)write their apps to work with AppLink, and if Ford wants the apps we have a match. But if every automaker … Read More

Livio Connect, Ford, GENIVI-compliant, AppLink, KPIT Cummins, Livio, HTML5, in-vehicle infotainment

  State-of-the-art sensing, computing and communications systems are quickly changing consumer expectations in people’s everyday lives, and are also driving innovation in the automotive industry at an incredible pace, according to Ford vice president and chief technical officer Paul Mascarenas. Mascarenas leads the team that has been researching and developing new technologies for Ford … Read More

Ford, Fusion sedan, Automotive Electronics, Wi-Fi, Paul Mascarenas, vehicle-to-vehicle communications

Connected cars are here, and you don’t have to trade in your current ride to avail yourself of the technology. Let’s say, for example, that you’re in the market for a radar and laser detector, because no one wants a speeding ticket and it’s easy to go faster than you really intended. At least one manufacturer, ESCORT (escortinc.com), offers a service that transmits “encounters” to the cloud via … Read More

Ford, Hughes Telematics, ESCORT, radar and laser drector, live-agent concierge service, MyAssist

That question about the difficulties involved in integrating development tools from different suppliers was asked rhetorically during a presentation at IESF Detroit by Paul Hansen, editor and publisher of The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics (hansenreport.com). “Why the lack of integrated tool solutions?” Hansen asked Mentor Graphics VP Serge Leef. It’s because there are no standards, Serge … Read More

IESF, Hyundai, ISO 26262, SAIC, Daimler, The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Toyota, AUTOSAR, Volkswagen, Mentor Graphics, Ford, Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration, General Motors, Paul Hansen, Eclipse Foundation, PSA, Fiat

  They say you can’t do everything, and they’re right, whoever they are, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it. Two very promising conferences relevant to automotive electronics – telematics and sensors – are scheduled for the same days, June 6-7, about 300 miles apart. In Novi, Michigan, the 12th Telematics Detroit conference and exhibition, sponsored by Telematics Update, is expected to … Read More

HTML5, Freescale Semiconductor, intel, Yole Développement, V2X, STMicroelectronics, Dell, Suburban Collection Showplace, Telematics Detroit conference and exhibition, Analog Devices, Telematics Update, Liberty Mutual, Facebook, LTE connectivity, Ford, MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems), Delphi, Sensors Expo & Conference 2012, Donald E. Stephens convention center

  Ford announced in England that in-car CD players are going the way of cassette tapes. The company noted that each Focus in the UK is equipped with an auxiliary input socket for connecting MP3 devices, and Bluetooth for wireless connection. Ford said it’s increasing the availability of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio to UK customers, and will launch Ford SYNC next year. So customers won’t … Read More

MP3 devices, Ford Sync, reel-to-reel tape players, Bluetooth, cassette tapes, 8-track players, Ford, Ford Focus, Chrysler, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)

It was fun while it lasted and quite rewarding for Johnson Controls-Saft (JCS), the advanced battery development joint venture (JV) involving Johnson Controls and Saft Batteries, but all good things come an end, and it appears as though the end may come in Delaware Chancery Court, where Johnson Controls filed suit to dissolve the JV the firms formed in 2006. Saft says it will oppose the suit. It says … Read More

Johnson Controls-Saft, Johnson Controls, lithium-ion batteries, Beijing Automotive Industry Company, Beijing Electric Vehicle Company, Azure, Saft Batteries, Ford, GM, SAIC, Daimler

How does an automaker decide which smartphone apps can access vehicle resources, and how access should be enabled? “More and more drivers will find a way to use their devices and their apps while in the car,” says Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president of Global Product Development. “They can do it unsafely, or they can do it through safer voice-activated solutions such as Ford SYNC – keeping their … Read More

SYNC, Robert Bosch Car Multimedia GmbH, AppLink, automotive apps clearinghouse, Airbiquity, in-car multimedia systems, Nissan's LEAF Electric Vehicle, Ford, Hitachi Automotive Systems

Four years from now, if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has its way, every new car sold in the U.S. will include technology to let drivers see what – or who – is behind them when the vehicle’s transmission is in reverse. That’s government acting responsibly to save lives, or another assault on my individual freedom, depending on your perspective. NHTSA’s proposed rule was … Read More

Rear-View Camera, NHTSA, Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act, cross traffic system, backover fatalities, Lincoln, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Ford, Jim Buczkowski

  Suppose you’re the person responsible for managing an automaker’s infotainment strategy. Let’s say you currently offer SiriusXM satellite radio, AM/FM, and HD. When and how do you add Internet radio? Ford is offering Pandora and Stitcher (music and news programming respectively), Toyota recently announced a partnership with Clear Channel’s iheartradio (750+ stations). Is now the time to make a move, … Read More

Slacker Internet Radio, Sirius/XM, Stitcher, Clear Channel, Ford, ABC News Radio, Toyota, Internet radio, Pandora, Wi-Fi, iheartradio, Infotainment

The market research firm iSuppli recently predicted that factory-installed Wi-Fi will grow from about 174,000 this year to 7.2 million in 2017. That got me thinking about in-vehicle Internet access. iSuppli said automakers increasingly view wireless connectivity as a key competitive differentiator, and I am sure they do, but there is little consensus on how to provide that connectivity and little evidence … Read More

Harman Automotive, General Motors, in-vehicle Internet access, Audi a8, USB mobile broadband modem, Autonet Mobile, Wi-Fi, WLAN, Amazon, Chrysler, iSuppli, eBay, Marvell Technology, Ford, Bluetooth, Subaru

The folks at USCAR drew my attention to cyber-physical systems (CPS), a discipline of keen interest to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and to a growing number of universities, as well as to Ford, GM, Chrysler, and other automakers. USCAR thinks of CPS as a network of highly sophisticated electromechanical subsystems autonomously controlling hybrid drive, automated parking assist, crash avoidance, … Read More

Ford, GM, cyber-physical systems, Chrysler, National Science Foundation, USCAR

Cars today have more electronic content than ever, which means more circuits, more wiring, and more weight. At the same time, automotive semiconductor and networking technologies pack more performance into smaller space. How does that net out? I posed the question to Paul Geyer, who has design responsibility for connectors, schematics and wiring tools in Chrysler’s Power and Signal Distribution group … Read More

GM, SAE/USCAR 21, Ford, USCAR, Chrysler, SAE/USCAR-2, United States Council for Automotive Research