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   Ford Brings Siri Eyes Free to MyFord Touch-equipped Vehicles

   Josh Centers

   Do you drive a relatively recent Ford car or truck? If so, your vehicle
   may soon become a significantly better listener, since Ford will be
   adding Siri Eyes Free to MyFord Touch systems for Ford vehicles dating
   back to model year 2011.

   If you're wondering what Siri Eyes Free is, you wouldn't be alone,
   since Apple has promised a variety of car-integration features over the
   years, but shipped relatively little, while changing names along the
   way.

   Siri Eyes Free lets you control Siri on your iOS device through your
   car's in-dash audio system. Apple announced Siri Eyes Free in June
   2012, with former Apple executive Scott Forstall saying that the
   technology could be in vehicles within 11 months. It started shipping
   in vehicles in 2013, though it was by no means widespread.

   In June 2013, Apple's Eddy Cue announced a more ambitious system called
   'iOS in the Car' that encompassed both Siri Eyes Free voice control and
   an iOS-like interface that lets you use the vehicle's touchscreen to
   control your iPhone. In March 2014, that system was renamed to
   [1]CarPlay, but didn't appear in an actual car until September 2014,
   and even then, it was in the $300,000 Ferrari FF. Aftermarket CarPlay
   systems became available from Alpine, Kenwood, and Pioneer relatively
   quickly, but CarPlay support among mainstream automakers is just now
   taking off with cars like the 2016 Honda Accord and Civic.MacRumors has
   [2]a comprehensive roundup on CarPlay.

   Owners of supported Ford vehicles can download the Siri Eyes Free
   update from [3]the Ford owner's site (registration required). After the
   update, you activate Siri on a paired iPhone by pressing a button on
   your vehicle's steering wheel. Here's a [4]video of it in action, but
   wow, is it a terrible example of using Siri.

   IFRAME: [5]http://www.youtube.com/embed/cGyT2Xm6nxw

   MyFord Touch is the second generation of Ford's [6]Sync entertainment
   and communication system, introduced in 2007. The third generation of
   Sync, based on Blackberry's [7]QNX operating system, has [8]supported
   Siri Eyes Free since its debut in 2014, but now Ford owners with the
   second-generation, Microsoft-based MyFord Touch can take advantage of
   it as well. Unfortunately, there is no Siri Eyes Free update for the
   first-generation Ford Sync system, also designed by Microsoft. The
   [9]versioning on these systems is confusing; we hope the Ford owner's
   site makes it easy to figure out what you have.

   If you have a supported vehicle, let us know how the update goes, and
   how well Siri Eyes Free works for you ' none of our regular
   contributors have such a car. The voice navigation systems we've tried
   in cars from the likes of Nissan and Subaru have been universally
   lousy, though, particularly if you've become used to the fluidity of
   issuing voice commands to Siri on an iOS device. So anything that
   provides more access to Siri is a good thing.

References

   1. http://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/
   2. http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/carplay/
   3. http://owner.ford.com/
   4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGyT2Xm6nxw
   5. http://www.youtube.com/embed/cGyT2Xm6nxw
   6. http://www.ford.com/technology/sync/
   7. http://www.qnx.com/
   8. https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2014/12/11/ford-sync-3-delivers-new--innovative-ways-for-people-to-connect.html
   9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Sync#/SYNC_versions

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