Ford's Upgraded Sync System -- Integrated User Interface for Your Car

Ford Motor Co. triggered a lot of news stories when it showed off its upgraded Sync in-car electronic system at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas this week. See Gearlog for a fairly comprehensive review of the new features. As it turns out, Kia is unveiling their own in-car infotainment system at the show this week too.

One feature garnering a lot of comment was the new 8-inch touch screen at the center of the dashboard. Some commentators, such as ABC News’s Becky Worley, are concerned about having one more distraction for the driver’s eyes. But after scanning a number of the stories for more detail, including the Gearlog review, I figure the distractions may not be worse than what we already have.

• Many of Sync’s available views replace control buttons, such as those for your air conditioning system, that are already part of your dashboard.
  
• The navigation system reminds us that many of our cars already have touch-based navigation screens.
  
• The touch screen is not the only way to interact with Sync. A 5-way controller will be part of the steering wheel. Voice control has been available with Sync since 2007.
  
• Surfing the web is available only when the transmission is in Park.
  

Sync will support voice-based Internet access, including Internet radio (Pandora). A Twitter app will read incoming tweets aloud to you. This way the tweets will be no more distracting — and no less — than hands-free mobile phone usage.

Overall, it looks like the designers have done a good job of keeping safety in mind. It doesn’t mean that cars aren’t more distracting than they used to be decades ago. For example, fifteen years ago I could change radio stations by the feel of the buttons, which were fairly substantial; now I change stations (or tracks) only when I’m stopped at a light or on a long clear stretch of highway. However, the new Sync seems to be no more and no less distracting than other new-car dashboards.