The Ford Sync voice recognition entertainment system has a new competitor. It's called Blue and Me and it appears on Fiat cars which will soon be appearing in Chrysler dealers' showrooms. Sync and Blue and Me were both developed with the help of Microsoft. However, Fiat has been working with Microsoft for as long as Ford and the system has been appearing in its cars sold in Europe before the Sync appeared in Ford vehicles in the U.S. Chrysler also offers its own infotainment system called UConnect. However, many say that it is less user friendly and less sophisticated than the Sync system.
Blue and Me includes voice control of the radio, phone and music player like an iPod or other MP3 device. It also works with an optional portable TomTom navigation system. In addition, the system permits drivers to download information about their driving habits to a USB thumb drive, transfer the data to their personal computers and then download it to a Fiat website called Eco:Ville and get driving suggestions on how they can save fuel. An online community called Eco:Ville has thousands of members in Europe. The site has a feature that allows users to compete for the lowest fuel consumption and emissions.
The fact that Fiat has Blue and Me is not a surprise to American auto industry analysts. The system was shown on a Fiat 500 at the Los Angeles Auto Show but it was pretty much ignored.
Blue and Me for the basic Fiat 500 is part of an option package that adds $500 to the cost of the car. The package also includes a leather wrapped steering wheel with controls for the Satellite radio. The base price of the 500 is $15,500. Blue and Me is standard on the Fiat 500 Sports and Lounge models. The sport has a MSRP of $17,500 and the Lounge is priced at $19,500. The navigation system is an option on these models and costs an additional $400.
The Blue and Me system equipped with the TomTom navigation system can recognize about 340 spoken commands while the new Ford Sync can understand 10,000 commands. Thus the Sync is easier and faster to use (for now).