Introducing Ford AI Assistant

[Tampamike]

So, the general consensus seems to be … sounds great! can’t wait to try it out.

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[Ford_orr]

Brian, read the room...

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

So, the general consensus seems to be … sounds great! can’t wait to try it out.

Yeah something like that.

I’m pretty certain our man Brian, the @Ford Motor Company man, did not do the planning on these announcements. If he’d had, it’d probably have been presented a bit differently.

 

[Mache_Nor]

Respectfully - is there a question for me (Brian) to answer here or are we just using me as a punching bag? Don't worry, I can take it.

Valid, and hope my little humerous post earlier did not stirr up too much. Since we're talking of things to come, is there an roadmap / things to come for the Mach E? It's nice with general Ford news, but on a enthusiasm forum such as this I suspect most are curious wether it will be further development to their cars. More precise; are there planned more software updates? Do older Mach Es get the new cluster UI? Precondition button? Etc.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

It’s a question and comment directed to @Ford Motor Company. Why is that confusing? Are you not the correct contact for such comments? You literally adopted the @Ford Motor Company handle.

Since I have your attention, why do I have to tap into Settings to open my trunk? (1) That isn’t a setting. (2) It’s a laggy pain. When I’m making a quick drop off or pickup, I want to press a button an open my trunk. And that’s why every single car I’ve ever owned had a physical trunk button. This car doesn’t. Instead it has TWO one-tap means of activating max defrost. But ZERO one-tap means of opening the trunk. That is DUMB design. It would be very easy to fix - just add a little button to the top ribbon of the Home Screen. But Ford won’t do it. Do you drive a MME, Brian?

I do drive a MME, and have for three years. I'm on my third one. I love it - best vehicle I've ever had, and I've driven thousands in my career. That being said, no product from any automaker is perfect in everyone's eyes, and I'm not going to pretend that the MME is any different.

Feedback noted. I understand your opinion on the design / UX decisions. I will share it with the folks who have a say in the software development like I do with all the information I glean from the community. I am here to be the voice of y'all to the folks inside the company, and vice versa. I'm here to be your comrade - there is no benefit to inflammatory comments directed towards me.

 

[RickMachE]

Since we're talking of things to come, is there an roadmap / things to come for the Mach E?

Most people are aware that there's a group of Mach-E owners that gets glimpses into the inner workings of Ford, glimpses that aren't afforded to the general populace. While EA members are not supposed to divulge their membership in EA (yet many do), members of this elite group of owners have sworn a blood oath that they will not divulge any of the information they are privy to, on the penalty of death.

Recently, a member of this group who shall remain nameless met in a secret parking garage in Dearborn with a Ford insider, who shared the Mach-E roadmap with them, and a picture of that roadmap was taken. I have been given exclusive access to that roadmap, and present it here for your consideration.

 

[Jimrpa]

Alexa was Ai before Ai was cool.

“Hey siri”

 

[Snakebitten]

Siri is probably cool too.

But it's not native to my vehicle. I don't even need my phone to be involved.
Nor do I have an IPhone.

I was test driving a GMC Sierra EV truck a couple of weeks ago and it's got that new Android OS. It was easy to see that I wouldn't need my personal device to basically experience the Android Auto environment. It was pretty cool, although I understand the objections by the Apple folks.

 

[Fremont Kid]

I heated with wood for 13 years so measured wood as cords but I'm guessing most people don't know a cord is 128 cubic feet; 4'X4'X8'. Real question is why would anyone want to calculate the number of cords they are loading into a truck bed when the truck bed is not measured as cords? Sure, I may need to make multiple trips to load all the mulch bags, but if I'm buying that much mulch I'll let a front loader dump into the bed rather than buy bagged mulch. Almost sounds like Ford is trying to project out use cases to end users. Perhaps a lot of wood cutters and landscapers were included in their market research panels.

Regarding AI, I really don't want any system or app to know enough about me or my lifestyle to propose a route, restaurant, type of tire, etc. I want my privacy and I like investigating myself. If I need to reroute, that is not necessarily bad. I don't need to save n-minutes enough to share that much about myself. Just me. Everyone gets to decide for themselves.

Now, if Ford develops technology that can identify when vehicle problems are imminent, then that is a beneficial diagnostic service. I do like receiving tire pressure information, as an example.

 

[Ahlarict]

Most people are aware that there's a group of Mach-E owners that gets glimpses into the inner workings of Ford, glimpses that aren't afforded to the general populace. While EA members are not supposed to divulge their membership in EA (yet many do), members of this elite group of owners have sworn a blood oath that they will not divulge any of the information they are privy to, on the penalty of death.

Recently, a member of this group who shall remain nameless met in a secret parking garage in Dearborn with a Ford insider, who shared the Mach-E roadmap with them, and a picture of that roadmap was taken. I have been given exclusive access to that roadmap, and present it here for your consideration.

To be fair, that plan is based upon evolving US policy priority guidance from the White House...

 

[Jimrpa]

Siri is probably cool too.

But it's not native to my vehicle. I don't even need my phone to be involved.
Nor do I have an IPhone.

I was test driving a GMC Sierra EV truck a couple of weeks ago and it's got that new Android OS. It was easy to see that I wouldn't need my personal device to basically experience the Android Auto environment. It was pretty cool, although I understand the objections by the Apple folks.

I just had a Ford Explorer with the new Google version of Sync. It was ok, I guess. I was able to run CarPlay wirelessly, full-screen, so I didn’t have to interact with Google. BlueCruise was a bit weird though - it turned the steering wheel in small, discrete motions. The ride was smooth, but the steering wheel motion was jerky. Also, there was no lane change capability.

 

[CraigS]

I’d settle for them allowing PaaK or remote climate control in New Zealand, and all the stuff already working everywhere else. I don’t need AI to assist me in packing the car, unless it has an attached robot arm, I need the existing services enabled for me.

@Ford Motor Company Brian, are you able to shed any light on this. Is there a technical reason features that work in the US, like PaaK or adjusting climate via the app, are not enabled in some markets? As far as I know Tesla's have it here in NZ so I don't believe it is a legislative reason.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

@Ford Motor Company Brian, are you able to shed any light on this. Is there a technical reason features that work in the US, like PaaK or adjusting climate via the app, are not enabled in some markets? As far as I know Tesla's have it here in NZ so I don't believe it is a legislative reason.

I don't have the answer in front of me, but I will ask some folks and get back to you.

 

[BlueWhale]

Can they get the current tech figured out first. Still have to deal with pressing the door button 4-5 times before PAAK works. And remote start still only blows cold air and starts seat ventilation regardless of settings.

 

[dan_meh]

AI is a magic incantation that raises money.

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