Sync 4A - Are we stuck with deprecated technology already?

[Regular150]

The sooner Ford stops pretending that they can make software and instead outsource to credible companies, the sooner they can really take over.

B2B, as Ford and Microsoft showed invented the in car Interface on Windows, it's obvious their experienced in that area. They switched to BlackBerrys QNX in the background and improved SYNC. Now another 7 years later they're partnered with Google in the Background. So compare the 2008 Tesla Roadster with what you got in the 2008 Ford. Fair to say the Tesla was behind considerably.
Fords move to Google will only improve their system.

As someone who's been a 'beta-tester' with a February 21 MachE delivery and I can tell from experience, it's advancement over that 15 months of ownership was improved constantly and rapidly.
Fords not a Software Company but it's not a Tire company or even a seat manufacturer, but you can bet their engineers are involved in all aspects of the companies that focus on those areas.

Sync Google will be great, just like the iterations before it, it will be a constant improvement.

It'll be fine!
Cheers!

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[white lightnin]

Couple of things from a Tesla and lightning owner.
1) Sync isn't perfect but it does apple car play wirelessly. I spend most of my sync time in there. Currently it seems google will not allow apple car play. I am very happy I got the Sync.
2) There is a little learning curve with Sync, and it isn't always intuitive.
3) I have had my lightning a couple of weeks and I already have had bug fixes. Impressive!
4) I hate the tesla UI, not because of how it functions. It does it really well. But because as soon as I I can navigate the system well they change the UI. I should not have to relearn how to turn on the windshield wipers every few months. It is beyond frustrating. Quite honestly it is dangerous and making wholesale changes to UI layout should not be allowed. Imagine if you had a car from the 90s and every few months someone came in and replaced the dash with different buttons and levers. The built in muscle memory is gone and you have to take your focus off the road to turn on the windshield wipers.

 

[bryan995]

I think this is sadly true. Ford software is 10+ years behind Tesla. I doubt that gap will ever be closed. I suspect a manufacturer agnostic / standard solution may take over or be mandated.

The only savings Grace we have is Apple car play - which is very well done.

 

[bryan995]

Couple of things from a Tesla and lightning owner.
1) Sync isn't perfect but it does apple car play wirelessly. I spend most of my sync time in there. Currently it seems google will not allow apple car play. I am very happy I got the Sync.
2) There is a little learning curve with Sync, and it isn't always intuitive.
3) I have had my lightning a couple of weeks and I already have had bug fixes. Impressive!
4) I hate the tesla UI, not because of how it functions. It does it really well. But because as soon as I I can navigate the system well they change the UI. I should not have to relearn how to turn on the windshield wipers every few months. It is beyond frustrating. Quite honestly it is dangerous and making wholesale changes to UI layout should not be allowed. Imagine if you had a car from the 90s and every few months someone came in and replaced the dash with different buttons and levers. The built in muscle memory is gone and you have to take your focus off the road to turn on the windshield wipers.

Why are you using the wiper adjustments? Wipers are automatic and work well since 2020 ish.

 

[white lightnin]

Why are you using the wiper adjustments? Wipers are automatic and work well since 2020 ish.

My tesla autos are horrible. I have had several cars with this tech and auto headlights. Tesla is by far the worst on both accounts. It should be easy for me to turn wipers off and on, no?

 

[bryan995]

My tesla autos are horrible. I have had several cars with this tech and auto headlights. Tesla is by far the worst on both accounts. It should be easy for me to turn wipers off and on, no?

That’s not my experience. They work very well.
Which is why the UX team moved the button elsewhere. Its no longer needed. Maybe you have a faulty sensor?

Do you still manually adjust the headlights / high beams? Or let auto do its thing ?
No need to hold onto the old way of doing things. If that were the case they we would never get improvements / updates.

 

[white lightnin]

That’s not my experience. They work very well. Which is why the UX team moved the button elsewhere. It is not needed. Do you’d still manually adjust the headlights / high beams? Or let auto do its thing ?

50/50 It depends on the terrain. Tesla can't compensate for hills and corners. I don't want to be the jerk blinding oncoming traffic.

 

[bryan995]

50/50 It depends on the terrain. Tesla can't compensate for hills and corners. I don't want to be the jerk blinding oncoming traffic.

That is also not my experience at all. Ha. Which year / model do you have ? 2012 S ??

 

[greenne]

I think this is sadly true. Ford software is 10+ years behind Tesla. I doubt that gap will ever be closed. I suspect a manufacturer agnostic / standard solution may take over or be mandated.

The only savings Grace we have is Apple car play - which is very well done.

But the real question is....are you buying a car or are you buying software?

In a Ford most necessary controls have a physical switch or knob. There are some advanced controls via software(infotainment system) only but most redundant controls are old school switches.

In the Tesla the screen controls everything..that can be either good or bad. The system has to be better. Personally, I hate Tesla's take on minimalism/automation and prefer manual controls with tactile feedback.

So yes, while I do think Ford should improve the focus and interface can and should be different because it has a different function.

Not everyone likes driving a rolling computer. As I said earlier, Ford doesn't need to copy Tesla. Ford needs to just do a better job of being Ford.

 

[PrivateJoker]

That is also not my experience at all. Ha. Which year / model do you have ? 2012 S ??

Reads something anti-Tesla website in 2018. Pretends to be Tesla owner in forums.

They're pretty easy to sniff out with similarily sensationalized claims. Especially considering the controls for the Wipers have moved in a major way a single time with the introduction of version 11.

 

[PrivateJoker]

But the real question is....are you buying a car or are you buying software?

That's a false dichotomy. You're buying both.

Wait until you're at your first broken Electrify America with 0 miles of range because your *&#$ UI couldn't give you a realtime status.

 

[greenne]

That's a false dichotomy. You're buying both.

Wait until you're at your first broken Electrify America with 0 miles of range because your *&#$ UI couldn't give you a realtime status.

Don't wait until your "needle" is pushing E (or zero DTE) and you won't have that problem...

 

[PrivateJoker]

Don't wait until your "needle" is pushing E (or zero DTE) and you won't have that problem...

Perahps you're new to EV's. Charge curves and unreliable infastructure put you into this situation. And you can solve it with good intergrated telemetry and reliable realtime information on charging equipment status.

If any non-Tesla company wants to compete with the end-to-end expierence worry free road trip expierence Tesla brings to the table; this is mandatory. We're not even close with any legacy automaker. Android Auto is the only thing that has a shot, simply because it has access to the onboard telemetry. There are other kludgy solutions that are unreliable, but they will be patchwork by network.

 

[greenne]

Perahps you're new to EV's. Charge curves and unreliable infastructure put you into this situation. And you can solve it with good intergrated telemetry and reliable realtime information on charging equipment status.

If any non-Tesla company wants to compete with the end-to-end expierence worry free road trip expierence Tesla brings to the table; this is mandatory. We're not even close with any legacy automaker. Android Auto is the only thing that has a shot, simply because it has access to the onboard telemetry. There are other kludgy solutions that are unreliable, but they will be patchwork by network.

Perhaps you don't want to plan ahead for contingencies that may happen en route.

Perhaps you want to put full faith in technology to bail you out. Fine, you do you.

Ford does need to improve the software. They don't need to copy Tesla's philosophy to do that.

There are people out there who want to buy a good car(EV) with good software, not a mediocre car designed around great(or claimed to be great) software.

 

[PrivateJoker]

Perhaps you want to put full faith in technology to bail you out. Fine, you do you.

I've got some bad news for you. You're not only putting convinence in technologies hands when you get in a car; you're putting your life in its hands. You're relying on all kinds of software, and microarchitecture that your brakes will function as required when you hit them. Every get in an aircraft?

It's a false dichotomy anyhow. This isn't some kind of magic. Charger stations can be communicated with by their respective networks. Slowly these networks are begining to publish API's to retreive realtime information on charger functionlity, speed, and utilization. Why wouldn't you want your car to access this information? The problem will be that Ford will not keep up with the various vendors and their API's. This is why you want a third party that can do software well to focus on it for you.

You also want the BMS to warm the battery as you approach those charge stations so that the vehicle can accept maximum current when it's scheduled to arrive, which is why you need this intergration.

So yes, if they want a good driving expierence and be efficient on a long road trip they do need to copy Tesla.

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