Modern technology has spoiled us. And the direct result for those of us who live in our cars is the MyFord Touch. The MyFord Touch is the result of a cooperation between Microsoft and the Ford Motor Company. In 2007, the two companies worked together to develop the Ford Sync which allows the driver to control the entertainment system via voice commands. Sync understood about 100 voice commands. Today's MyFord Touch can understand upwards to 10,000 voice commands. It understands special instructions that get the entertainment part of the system to play your favorite artist. Simply say, "Play artist, Paul McCartney" and the system will play songs performed by Paul McCartney.
Although Sync was introduced just a few years ago, it is already becoming obsolete. For example, Sync featured one tiny LCD screen to assist you in controlling the entertainment system. MyFord Touch has a large 8-inch touchscreen located in the center console of the car and two smaller LCD screens that appear on either side of the speedometer. The screens provide information and allow you to control the different segments of the infotainment system. You can control functions of the car such as the interior temperature, work the navigation system and the cell phone and, of course, control the entertainment system. MyFord Touch has an AM/FM radio, HD and Satellite Radio, and it can play CDs, media stored on a USB thumb drive and standard SD Card. You can also feed video off a portable DVD player or iPod into the system so that you can watch the video on the center console screen.
Ford and Microsoft divide the functions that can be controlled by MyFord Touch into four groupings -- entertainment, phone, navigation and climate. Each grouping has its own color code and each has its own corner of the center touchscreen. So you know what you are controlling or getting information about according to the color scheme.
The MyFord Touch System also includes a whole lot of other features including Wi-Fi, the ability to control ambient interior lighting that includes LEDs in the kick panels to the doors and cup holders. You can customize the ambient lighting to be red, blue or green. The central manner through which the driver controls the various functions is voice commands. This allows the driver to concentrate on driving the vehicle.
Finally, MyFord Touch is a system that is always progressing. Ford says that it plans to offer new feature updates every six months. Already there are things being planned for later updates. These include the ability to decode digital video in formats like H.264 directly from a USB stick or SD Card and a built-in web browser.