Ford Adapts Mobile Apps for Sync System

Ford Motor Company stated that when it began researching ways to adapt Smartphone mobile apps for in-car use through voice control of its popular Sync communications system, the company first turned to the nearby University of Michigan-Dearborn campus to spur ideas around "what's next" for the connected car experience.

There, Ford enlisted the help of six computer science students, working with their professors to devise an extracurricular project that would net the young programmers real-world experience. It would also give Ford an education on the open software community, which was what the company wanted in order to take Sync to the next level.

"When we started planning for mobile app functionality on Sync, we knew we had to think and act with the 'start-up' mentality," said K. Venkatesh Prasad, technical leader for Infotronics, Ford research and advanced engineering. "The explosive growth in apps comes from community-created development, software geeks chatting about code on social media sites, open collaboration. That's the genesis of app innovation, and that's the spirit we wanted to capture for Sync."

To gain outside perspective on the app marketplace, the students headed for the same place millions of Sync users visit every day: the iPhone App Store. With more than 100,000 applications created in just two years, explosive growth fueled by a spirit of "open innovation" has made the App Store an unprecedented success.

The initial task: winnowing the roughly 100,000 active App Store apps down to those that would be relevant for in-car use. The young developers would then be asked to modify the software to work with Sync, using the vehicle buttons, displays and voice prompts to control the mobile app. And they had three months during which to work.

Ford was already working on an internal proof-of-concept application programming interface called "SyncLink," allowing connectivity between Smartphone mobile applications and the vehicle interface. This API permitted access to the automotive interface - buttons, voice prompts and vehicle displays - that would be needed to make the software work.

To gain access to the Sync API in development, the students became the first ever to sign Ford's new Sync Developers' License, in effect making them the only six mobile app developers in the world licensed to use the Sync API for in-vehicle applications. Not only were the agreements drafted in a remarkably short time, but they marked a release of proprietary technology by an automaker into the open source community.

"Basically, Ford knew that to provide the most value for its Sync users and customers, the company had to let go of the reins a little bit," said Prasad. "If you give the open source community the opportunity, they'll almost always do the right thing. For us to do the right thing, we had to trust this open development model in a way that's not easy for a large company to do."

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

Related terms: communications, community, computer, education, engineering, media, michigan, programming, research, software, technology, university