Ford Power-Up Software Updates to Deliver Amazon Alexa, BlueCruise and More to Mach-E

[Jimrpa]

But Apple software sucks google maps is so much better. And trust me if you have any cell phone you have no privacy just ask a lawyer or cop. That's the first thing they asked for in a crime scene. If you think Apple's not watching you you better think again my friend. If you're tired of all the companies watching you you better throw your cell phone away and ride a bicycle to work It's the only way around it lol. Just my two cents. Cheers ?

I essentially said I don’t like being “monetized”. I do what I can to avoid it. It’s doubtful that I’ll ever give law enforcement cause to ask for my electronics and, if I want to be really paranoid when going overseas, I have no problems doing a factory reset before leaving the US, using iCloud while out of the country for my very boring activities (email, web browsing, and tourist pictures), then another factory reset before return). They’re welcome to the password to my Twitter account with one post, and my LinkedIn account, so that takes care of social media.

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[snickerson123]

Well if these new updates can "Drop a beat", hell we don't need anything more, right? ?

 

[BDC]

I doubt we will be forced to use Alexa, this seems like a deal Amazon needed to get their voice assistant in the car. Currently Siri and Google Assistant are available via CarPlay and Android Auto, but I don't think there is a good answer for Alexa without direct integration like this. I expect money changed hands somewhere, and I expect the overall direction of flow was Amazon to Ford, not vice versa.

 

[Jimrpa]

Apple doesn't cut these kinds of deals. You're not going to see Siri in a product that is not manufactured by Apple

Not necessary. I can access Siri today in my car through CarPlay. Also, I was only expressing a preference. I realize it’s unlikely for Apple to work too closely with any auto maker in deeper software integration.

 

[Jimrpa]

As long as vehicle functionality and connectivity aren’t dependent on my having and maintaining any form of Amazon account or identity, I don’t care (for example, it doesn’t matter to me if Ford is using AWS, Azure, or a bunch of servers in some kid’s basement in Taylor, to host the back end services they need to drive their platform).

 

[Mirak]

Can we finally put to rest the b%#@ing and moaning about software updates now?

Because of a press release promising something that hasn’t been delivered yet? Gosh, it’s not like we have any reason to skeptical. Ford’s doing such a great job fixing bugs with all these OTA updates so far. And just look at how great FordPass works after all these new releases.

I will try not to be too negative, but I’m not going to be gullible, either.

The press release I’d like to see is “Ford is aware of the following bugs and is actively working on solutions…..” Crickets.

 

[mixduptransistor]

I doubt we will be forced to use Alexa, this seems like a deal Amazon needed to get their voice assistant in the car. Currently Siri and Google Assistant are available via CarPlay and Android Auto, but I don't think there is a good answer for Alexa without direct integration like this. I expect money changed hands somewhere, and I expect the overall direction of flow was Amazon to Ford, not vice versa.

There is an Amazon Echo Auto device, but it's not great. It's not terrible but direct integration is always better

This is also a good deal for Ford, though. I haven't used the voice commands built into Sync, because I am always using CarPlay, but I have to imagine it's not great. This gets Ford a good, fully featured voice system that they don't have to do their self and is almost certainly cheaper from Amazon than it is to build in house--and it's better

 

[CivilJeep]

new Sketch for touchscreen drawing and simple gaming coming to Mustang Mach-E soon

Hmmm....this seems like putting the cart before the horse.

 

[mixduptransistor]

Because of a press release promising something that hasn’t been delivered yet? Gosh, it’s not like we have any reason to skeptical. Ford’s doing such a great job fixing bugs with all these OTA updates so far. And just look at how great FordPass works after all these new releases.

I will try not to be too negative, but I’m not going to be gullible, either.

The press release I’d like to see is “Ford is aware of the following bugs and is actively working on solutions…..” Crickets.

Well, my opinion is the complaining is being way overdone even before this press release. There have been two OTAs now, and for severe problems you can get updates from a dealer, and the platform is still brand new barely into five digit number of units on the road

 

[ChasingCoral]

I am not sure how I feel about the privacy aspects of this, hopefully there are some toggles.

Toggles? There are toggles for everything on that car!

That said some impatient people on here were already throwing Ford under the bus claiming they gave up on OTA updates after like one month of ownership. With this release it's obvious Ford is completely focused on OTA updates and Mach-E owners will see plenty of them.

I for one do NOT want my car updated every week and am glad Ford is slow rolling this out. My Mach-E has some quirks I hope Ford fixes via OTA but overall it's very reliable and the last thing I want is to deal with OTAs that "brick" my vehicle. I'd be happy with an OTA once per quarter, but I am sure there are some people reading this who wishes their Mach-E was updated several times per week.

Yes, Ford is too busy fixing what's broken now in the software. Lots of cool new features coming soon.

 

[Ajpeo3]

Can we finally put to rest the b%#@ing and moaning about software updates now?

I essentially said I don’t like being “monetized”. I do what I can to avoid it. It’s doubtful that I’ll ever give law enforcement cause to ask for my electronics and, if I want to be really paranoid when going overseas, I have no problems doing a factory reset before leaving the US, using iCloud while out of the country for my very boring activities (email, web browsing, and tourist pictures), then another factory reset before return). They’re welcome to the password to my Twitter account with one post, and my LinkedIn account, so that takes care of social media.

Okay buddy you have a great day life too short for me to be worried about stuff like that. Cheers

 

[SashaLondon]

Im sure on everything you have to switch on Alexa (stuff that is non-Amazon). For instance, in the Sonos app, it doesn't just start using Alexa. So just don't switch it on.

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

Screenshot of the skeptchpad from the their new video.

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

For some reason I have the Super Mario Bros theme stuck in my head now

 

[AllenXS]

Where's our "boost mode" button? Isn't that coming in an update?!

That's the GT upgrade. Requires some minor hardware changes.

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