Hyundai and Kia's latest pitch to US drivers - Windows
Microsoft's exclusive with Ford finishes soon
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Microsoft has signed deals with Hyundai and Kia to supply voice recognition kit for cars sold in the USA, just as soon as its exclusive deal with Ford runs out in November.
The system is called Sync, and uses an ARM-based system running Windows Mobile for Automotive with voice recognition provided by Nuance. It allows drivers to talk to various forms of media player and/or mobile phone, and support for new devices can be uploaded as and when the customer wants to use them.
The system has its own website, which reports that two new features, Vehicle Health Reports and 911 Assist, are to be launched at around the same time.
Right now the system is only available in the US on Ford motors, sometimes bundled but available as an option on the Focus and Fusion. That option is taken up by around 50 per cent of buyers, despite costing around $400.
Outside the USA, Sync is used in cars from Fiat, thanks to a previous exclusive deal, and is used for its Blue&Me product which also incorporates GPS functionality.
It's not clear what functions Hyundia and Kia will be integrating with the system. It's early days, but Microsoft has always been about supplying the platform and allowing manufacturers to decide on the features so those decisions will likely vary between manufacturers and models. ®
COMMENTS
@Gavin Nottage
If you want an embedded Linux with a vendor behind it, Wind River sells Linux as well as VxWorks. And they also have an RT variant.
@Luke Wells
"I can access the ECU, the stereo, the bluetooth, the door locks, immobilizer, alarm and security features, the dash board, and the abs/tcs/esp modules."
The stereo and bluetooth shouldn't be on the CAN with the rest of those. They certainly aren't in my car (VAG manufactured). The others are all safety related systems and need to communicate with each other. Please don't be offended by this but are you sure the stereo is on the CAN? What does it use the connection for? Can you replace it with an after market system?
Everything in a car is connected together these days
To those people saying that the MS software is going to have no control over the safety critical features of the car......
If I plug a VAGCOM cable into my car, though this one cable I can access the ECU, the stereo, the bluetooth, the door locks, immobilizer, alarm and security features, the dash board, and the abs/tcs/esp modules. Malfunctioning modules can cause problems with other modules as they send spurious commands over the bus, so what makes you think that the Microsoft module wont?
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