by Jim Bridgwater
Last week I attended the ITU’s Fully Connected Car Workshop which takes place within the environs of the Geneva Auto Show. It was an excellent opportunity to check out all the new cars on display, but also to see what is happening in the world of infotainment. Although most of the emphasis was on new model announcements and “green” cars of all descriptions, there were a few notable infotainment displays.
Perhaps the most significant news is that Ford will launch its second-generation Sync technology in Europe in the 2012 Focus hatchback. This system offers high-end infotainment features such as “one shot” speech recognition and navigation with 3D points of Interest at a relatively modest price on an affordable family car. The Sync system runs on a Microsoft software platformand has enabled Ford to steal a march on its competitors in the North American market with over 3 million units shipped to date.
At the other end of the scale, BMW showed off its next generation Connected Drive system which includes practically every infotainment and safety feature you could imagine, from Google maps via panoramic “birdview” camera system to night vision.
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