Ford Debuts Its First Mobile App: SYNC Destinations

Ford Motor Company has just launched its first mobile application: SYNC Destinations, available today for iPhone/iPad and Android users, with a Blackberry version due out soon. The new app provides directions, navigation and traffic information, all of which can be sent from the app to any 2010 or 2011 Ford SYNC-equipped vehicles which are TDI-capable (Traffic, Directions and Information-capable).

In other words, it’s your phone talking to your car.

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SYNC Destinations

Using the mobile app, owners of SYNC-enabled cars can plan out their trips in advance, and the locations entered into the app are immediately accessible through the SYNC services once in the vehicle, says Ford.

But the app doesn’t just serve as an easier way to program your GPS – it also helps you determine when you should take that trip, too. Using traffic forecasting, the app can suggest the best time of day to head to your destination, using color-coded (red, yellow, green) bars on its Fastest Route bar chart to show you the varying traffic patterns. And it estimates when you’ll arrive at your end point, too.

The provided traffic maps with real-time speed, accident and incident info are available for highways, interstates, arterials and city streets in 126 metro areas in North America. Traffic information comes from INRIX’s Predictive Traffic, which, as mobile blog IntoMobile discovered, actually has its own mobile application in the App Store now.

Up to 25 “Saved Points” (aka destinations) can be accessed through the new app, so you could even plan a cross-country road trip with dozens of stops along the way, if you were so inclined.

An interesting side note about this app: although SYNC is a Microsoft technology, there’s no mention of a Windows Phone 7 app from the company. Also, thanks to its partnership with INRIX, the maps displayed come from Google, not Bing.

Ford’s Mobile-to-Car Efforts

As handy as this app may be, it’s the not the only mobile application that will talk to your car. For example, Ford last week announced SYNC AppLink, a downloadable software upgrade that will connect SYNC-equipped vehicles with mobile applications. The first apps to receive this integration are Pandora’s Internet radio, Stitcher (another radio app) and Orangatame’s OpenBeak app for Twitter. More apps are coming, Ford said. At the time of the announcement, Ford only mentioned Android and BlackBerry integrations, but the auto maker has since confirmed Apple iPhones will also be compatible with AppLink. More information on this technology is expected to come out during January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

The new SYNC Destinations app is available as a free download, but you must have a registered account on www.syncmyride.com in order to use it…and a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury SYNC-equipped vehicle, of course.

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