Ford teases the future of Sync, plans to bring disembodied heads to dashboards everywhere

There's plenty of automotive tech on display at CES this year (amps and kickers for miles, dawg) and, while Microsoft is talking up its enhanced Sync for 2010 autos, Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally took an opportunity to direct our gaze a bit further down the road with an interesting demo of what he imagines the rear-view mirror of the future will look like. Ford calls it Emotic Voice Activation, or EVA, basically an integrated AI that can read you your e-mail, check the news, and even, apparently, detect what kind of tunes you're in the mood for. At this point we don't know anything about when or even if this sort of thing will be available in the real world, but, based on the video, we expect EVA to become standard equipment roughly when steering wheels lose their spokes and people actually start pulling over to check their e-mail. Soothing video below.

[Endejas @ Jan 9th 2009 6:23PM]

Personally, I think I'd like a system like this in my home or office before I'd want it in my car.

Unless I'm living out of it or something.

[Blackstar @ Jan 9th 2009 7:49PM]

Too bad when you really try to use it, you get something more like this: "Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y_Jp6PxsSQ


Right before you drive right into a tree.

[mynk @ Jan 9th 2009 11:19PM]

that vid was funny indeed but id just like to say for all the haters out there, the speech recognition actually works very well now... it was in alpha when the news repot was done...

especially, windows speech recognition and tom clancy end war, i barely ever have problems dictating to the computer/ commanding the game... and have started to grow fond of it

[konshuss @ Jan 10th 2009 12:58AM]

is this a demo of a new GPS or a sci fi-themed episode of coronation street?

[licd @ Jan 9th 2009 6:32PM]

i'd rather have something like jarvis

[Jose @ Jan 14th 2009 7:11PM]

I wonder how your wife is going to feel about your car being female, and you taking direct orders from it. Lol.

[cal @ Jan 9th 2009 6:39PM]

What the heck is this crap.
Seriously they should at least get Paul Bettany ( jarvis from iron man ) to do the AI voicing. That would be amazing.

And no disembodied heads for me thanks.

[Cash @ Jan 9th 2009 8:42PM]

I was just thinking the same thing. I wouldn't mind the voice interface, but I seriously don't need some creepy monochromatic severed head bitching at me in an Aussie accent while I'm trying to drive. Give me a vocoder LED display like the original KITT, and I'll be happy.

[dark star @ Jan 9th 2009 11:24PM]

it is impressive that they synchronized the voice to the motion of the lips!

[idiot @ Jan 10th 2009 12:09AM]

ooooh... I was imagining this would bring about severed heads...like from car crashes...because you were looking at a computer instead of driving

"HIS CAPA GOT DETATED!!!"

that is all

[outlaw @ Jan 9th 2009 6:41PM]

It would be cooler if the AI was done by Samuel L. Jackson.

[outlaw @ Jan 9th 2009 6:59PM]

Oops.

[Cash @ Jan 9th 2009 8:43PM]

"I am not hauling no motherfuckin snakes in this motherfukin car!!"

[outlaw @ Jan 9th 2009 6:45PM]

This would be an instant hit if the used Samuel L. Jackson for the AI.

[Hackettman @ Jan 9th 2009 6:56PM]

Id want it have as negative a personality as I have..... Ill get a good laugh out of it......... I mean what if you tell it to go f&%k itself...... Does it reply with something witty? If someone cuts you off will it help plot your revenge and then show you via google maps how to hatch this devious plan........

I really hope so......

[Ron Amadeo @ Jan 9th 2009 7:04PM]

Why bother with this nonsense? Does Ford really think they can build this? I understand the need for concept videos that introduce a new idea, but this is the same stuff we've seen in sci-fi movies for years. Does the car fly too? Total Bullshit.

[nikster @ Jan 9th 2009 8:40PM]

Yeah, it's BS allright, but it's worse than that - Ford could put the money and smart people it's wasting on this to good use in other departments. Like quality control - let's make cars as good as Toyotas, how about that? Or fuel efficiency. Or driving research - how about cars that feel as good to drive as BMWs?

Ford would surely comment that they are doing all that, but they are not doing enough of it, and not doing it right. Fix the basics before you get into fancy stuff.

[Rotaryfan @ Jan 10th 2009 3:24AM]

@Nikster:

When's the last time YOU drove a Ford? Ford is currently a leader in fuel efficiency of larger vehicles. Also, you clearly have no idea that Ford has been making some pretty cool reliable compact cars that it has sold in Europe for years. here's a fairly old one, the sportka http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dzi_8Rscfs

I'm not sure where the stigma that american cars suck has come from, but in reality, they are often a better deal than foreign cars. fusion/milan is better in many ways than camry, and the escape hybrid is actually a great car, as is the Edge.

Ford is constantly raising the bar for affordable, mid-range cars, and yet on the coasts, people ignore anything that isn't made in Germany or Japan. and by the way, Mercury is rated as the second most reliable car brand only after Lexus. as in, it beats toyota, honda, acura, nissan, bmw, mercedes, etc.

You have such a weak argument, maybe consider checking your info before you start judging. and comparing fords to BMW's in terms of driving feel is a little retarded. BMW's have more expensive components, and are of higher quality because they cost more. Ford's market doesn't include $60k+ cars. Unless you mean to compare Lincoln to BMW's in which case the feel is sometimes better. The MKS is fucking sweet mahn.

[Jose @ Jan 11th 2009 1:28AM]

I wonder if it comes with a scrolling LED light bar that you fasten on the hood of your car with industrial tape.

[Stereotype @ Jan 9th 2009 7:27PM]

I'd rather have KITT... :P

[Harley3k @ Jan 9th 2009 7:39PM]

They left out the part where you repeat the commands several times in an attempt to make the voice recognition system understand you; and then it finally does something completely different.

And the subsequent road rage.

[ekow2kn3 @ Jan 9th 2009 7:46PM]

Yes but let's be real....

EVA, can you read me my e-mail?

Sure thing... 2 New Messages: first message FREE V1AGRA and Vitamn Supplements Online!!!!!!11one! Second message: Hello, I'm a Nigerian prince...

[TheHauli @ Jan 9th 2009 8:12PM]

Hasselhoff is gonna be pissed....

[nikster @ Jan 9th 2009 8:31PM]

Your tax dollars at work! How about making cars that don't break down instead, Ford?

[Cash @ Jan 9th 2009 8:44PM]

Ford is the only domestic auto maker that *didn't* take money from the feds.

How about keeping up with the news, and not being such a douche bag, Nikster?

[BigD145 @ Jan 9th 2009 8:47PM]

Maybe, but they still have junk bond status. They are not doing well as a business.

[BigD145 @ Jan 9th 2009 8:48PM]

And before I forget; they do take money from the feds. They've been getting subsidies, aka corporate welfare, for years.

[rox @ Jan 9th 2009 8:33PM]

um, you're driving... why would need a face to look at? and jesus ford, in the future we wont use rave flyer fonts from the early 90s
•¿•

[collide007 @ Jan 9th 2009 10:14PM]

Let me get this straight, all that voice activation, and you have to touch the screen to call someone?

I like the voice, but I agree with the consensus here, i'd ditch the head, it's freaky, very distracting and wastes screen real estate.

[MichaelD @ Jan 9th 2009 10:26PM]

Is this actually supposed to be anything close to legitimate?

(1) Most of what is on this video is the kind of stuff people wanted in the days of Star Trek TOS--until they realized half of it wasn't possible and the other half was annoying.

(2) I doubt any user is going to be that polite to their digital slave. I'm certainly not calling mine by name.

(3) I would only be cordial to that device if its face was displayed like EVE from WALL-E.

(4) If Google ever starts showing every page it bypasses while doing a search I'm switching email providers.

[Marshal @ Jan 10th 2009 3:58PM]

"Natasha" is a pretty nice dish. :)

Eva, give me her phone # and address please. Including directions to her place. And her status. Is she single?

And Eva, open the pod bay door.

[gg555 @ Jan 9th 2009 10:56PM]

It's telling that the woman isn't driving while she's using the system. You can see how distracted she is, focusing on the various concerns she's addressing and listening to "Eva." It's a total myth that hands free makes interacting with electronic devices safer. People get caught up in their heads thinking about what their doing and drive just as badly as drunk drivers. Hence the multiple instances already where people have followed voice directions from GPS systems right into brick walls. It's not that they're mindlessly following the instructions. It's that their totally caught up in interacting with the device and not seeing what's in front of them. You just can't focus that much attention on work, emails, phone calls, etc., and pay enough attention to the road to drive well. This system is ridiculous. Everyone will be crashing into everyone, while trying to treat their car like their desk in their office.

Of course, all these things would be easy to do and more, if you just road public transportation. Why doesn't Ford solve that problem? Oh yeah, they don't care, they just want to sell cars.

[Syn @ Jan 9th 2009 11:03PM]

Precogs are next.

[Dan @ Jan 10th 2009 10:51AM]

screw having that system in my car, i want it in my house! from what i've seen though this quality of voice recognition is years away, you're lucky if you can get voice recognition to open an application let alone read the newspaper for you and create appointments perfectly for you, would be nice though, i can dream...

[mynk @ Jan 9th 2009 11:27PM]

really, im getting tired of all then people out the making ford look like shit, they've made good cars, and have really done some amazing things to the auto industry. sure they're in trouble now because they made a few mistakes in the past, but i really like dirivng fords just as much as toyota's... and companies like GM and Ford actually went fuel efficeint first, about 10 years ago... but were legally forced to quit thier electric/fuel effiecieny dreams in california.... so it's not really thier fault that they were sceptic to pick it up again...

and about this being a sham, thats probally what you would have said about sync or onstar when it came out, but now we see it in everyday cars and its normal... and that floating head allready exists on many sites on the web, i forget what they are called... but its pretty old technology. as for voice recognition, windows voice recognition and games like EndWar prove that it can work very well as technology advances.

the fact that you would dare think that anything is impossible makes you unworthy of being at a blog like engadget, where technological possibilities are not only dreamed of, but showed off every day. dont let this comment get to the future generations.

[Jughead @ Jan 9th 2009 11:48PM]

I would be blown away if SYNC could actually support pulling your contacts from a WinMo 6.1 phone first. I think they should set the bar a little lower.

[Al Bundy @ Jan 10th 2009 1:49AM]

wasnt Ford begging for money like a bum the other day? anyway, i could never consider ford. their cars look horrid.

[superhobo @ Jan 10th 2009 2:10AM]

Both of them were really annoying.

GO TOYOTA.

[Gamoe @ Jan 10th 2009 4:27AM]

Totally inefficient.

Very interesting for an observer and dramatic purposes, but quite inefficient and unnecessary for real user to computer interaction. Buttons, gestures and easy, quick voice commands (versus full sentences) are make a much more efficient interface than this silliness. This has been presented and tried over and over many times... and yet somehow doesn't survive in the marketplace.

Why do some feel it is good or even desirable to address a computer as a person? It makes for good sci-fi, sure... but in real life, a digital slave is very different a beast from any human being, even a paid assistant, and I for one, do not welcome the inefficiencies, indirectness and time consuming social conventions into my interactions with a computer, which is a machine constructed purely for my use, not another human being with feelings and personhood to take into account.

Speaking in complete sentences, and having courtesies with a computer interface may be cute, but it is only fooling one's self and introducing quite unnecessary inefficiencies. Text-to-Speech on e-Mails and the like, is useful while driving, though and a welcomed (and already existing) feature. I was wondering though, why on Earht the woman was not driving and instead just sitting in the car. Surely Ford does not expect people to get into their cars and sit down without actually driving anywhere just to use the system...

[WALL-E @ Apr 14th 2009 5:33PM]

Eva... EVA! EEEEEEEEEVAAAAAAAAA!!!

[Spawn_Xe @ Jan 10th 2009 6:44AM]

why do these people depict AI as being friendly and helpfull.. when its quite obvious that the people who would purchase such things (endgagdet reading geeks).. would much prefer a sarcastic, condescending and lethargic son of a bitch hurling under the breath insults from the dashboard.

[whoster69 @ Jan 10th 2009 3:33PM]

This is pretty slick and at the same time disturbing. EVA, the disembodied head of a homeless person now runs your life in your car...

[Rahim @ Jan 13th 2009 10:35PM]

sign me up for one of these, yummmyyy

[Shadowlinedesigns @ Mar 11th 2009 1:29PM]

Welcome back commander. Establishing battlefield control, please stand by...
Incoming Transmission
Ford introduces EVA for your vehicles, hoping to help spot NOD positions on the field.
Please return to the service bay to have your vehicle upgraded immediately, and keep an eye out as NOD has been working on their own named CABAL.