Android Will Power Ford Vehicle Navigation Starting in 2023

[RonTCat]

Hopefully the OTA process can OTA a new OS to our cars. The last thing I want is to take delivery of a $50k+ brick after 2 years. I expect long-term support and this is making me nervous.

So you are saying all the Sync 1, 2, and 3 cars are bricked right now?

Sponsored

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

The owner of the car will likely never know there was a migration, if there is one.

they will know if there isn't, because stuff will big stuff starts to show up on "Sync 5" that never shows up on 4(a). they won't know why, mind you.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

Internal communications confirms plan to continue supporting Apple CarPlay

 

[jdmrc93]

And THIS is why I'm doing Ford Options. LOL

 

[sockmeister]

Most likely there will be a migration. Don't forget, all of the software on the Mach-E is OTA updatable. And Android can run on just about ANYTHING.

I am willing to bet it'll happen under-the-hood through a software update for us.

This is a good thing. Android has decades of development behind it. Ford's sync system is homegrown. They'd need to invest a lot of development effort to maintain it, and Ford isn't a software company.

 

[BlueMach]

So you are saying all the Sync 1, 2, and 3 cars are bricked right now?

I mean they're worthless now, yes.

A SYNC 4 car in an SYNC Android world would become instantly worthless as well, to me.

I'm nervous now until I hear that our 21MY vehicles will get this Android update in 2023.

 

[BlueMach]

Most likely there will be a migration. Don't forget, all of the software on the Mach-E is OTA updatable. And Android can run on just about ANYTHING.

I am willing to bet it'll happen under-the-hood through a software update for us.

This is a good thing. Android has decades of development behind it. Ford's sync system is homegrown. They'd need to invest a lot of development effort to maintain it, and Ford isn't a software company.

God I hope so. The last thing I want is to be stuck with an out of support car that cost this much money. It shouldn't be that hard at all to give us Android via OTA.

 

[BlueMach]

And THIS is why I'm doing Ford Options. LOL

Making me think more and more about it.

 

[VegStang]

The Volvo was not an option for my household as it's on Android, and one of the reasons I delayed getting a Tesla was their reliance on google maps (and their inability to answer key questions concerning their arrangement with Google.) I care about privacy so this is not good news at all, hopefully there will be ways to deal with Google's vacuuming of data from our cars beyond using CarPlay. Like others have said Opt In is nice in theory but considering how Google has treated that in the past/present the practicality of it could be seriously lacking. I'll pay for the car (including the sw) with cash, not my data.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

I find it really intriguing that some people want to ensure their vehicle can get this potential update and some people are adamant they don't get it

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

Most likely there will be a migration. Don't forget, all of the software on the Mach-E is OTA updatable. And Android can run on just about ANYTHING.

I am willing to bet it'll happen under-the-hood through a software update for us.

This is a good thing. Android has decades of development behind it. Ford's sync system is homegrown. They'd need to invest a lot of development effort to maintain it, and Ford isn't a software company.

QNX has more real-time experience - it's been around since 1982. In true real-time embedded system terms, Android is still a n00b. ? So I wouldn't lean on that piece here.

The app layer and hardware interface are what Ford owns either way. What will be able to happen here is that less of the app layer will be Ford's problem, which is where "Ford isn't a software company" comes in. That's the ultimate end-user benefit - the app layer.

And I think a migration is a big assumption right now. There was no migration from MFT to Sync 3, and no migration from Sync 3.[1-3] to Sync 3.4, despite the fact that there was no real technical blocker to doing that. (Sync 3 has OTA support for the infotainment, and MFT has end-user support for it...) This is a case where, again, I want to be wrong, but it's on Ford to commit to it or not at this point.

 

[TheSteelRider]

My question would be, would Android actually benefit the user in any way over the QNX with Sync 4 skin on it? Difficult for me to see any benefit there for the customer.

 

[Davedough]

The Volvo was not an option for my household as it's on Android, and one of the reasons I delayed getting a Tesla was their reliance on google maps. I care about privacy so this is not good news at all, hopefully there will be ways to deal with Google's vacuuming of data from our cars beyond using CarPlay. Like others have said Opt In is nice in theory but considering how Google has treated that in the past/present the practicality of it could be seriously lacking. I'll pay for the car (including the sw) with cash, not my data.

Not to mention the Polestar had a massive software recall that stemmed from the OS being completely run on Android

 

[RVAtom]

My take is that this is further proof that Ford is getting serious about making more cars for the future, and not stuck in a rut. This announcement made me think about the news from last week that Google is planning to use graph theory to plan electric vehicle charging stops in Android Automotive.

Time will tell whether this comes to our 2021 models. This does make me want to think really hard about options now.

 

[Accord07]

So you are saying all the Sync 1, 2, and 3 cars are bricked right now?

Well, Sync 1 and 2 were based on Windows CE for Automotive as I recall. QNX started with Sync 3.

Sponsored