Ford Will Be Employing Over-The-Air Software Updates to Its 2016 Cars

Ford Motor last week said that it would look into the developing field of “over-the-air” software upgrades, counting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to its Sync 3-equipped vehicles of 2016 for the initial time through a software upgrade that was wireless in nature.

For those who are not aware of Ford, let us have a quick look at its history. Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker. It has it’s headquarter situated in Dearborn, Michigan. The company was founded by Henry Ford and was inaugurated on June 16, 1903. The current CEO of the company is Mark Fields. The company has been in talks due to its latest invention—Sync 3.

The latest update to Sync 3, the interactive touch-screen technology of Ford, will be completed using Wi-Fi via an over-the-air update similar to the same process as to how new software gets updated in the smartphone by the company. This indicates that the update will take place wirelessly. In 2015, Tesla Inc. took an early lead in introducing over-the-air updates. Since then, conventional automakers are gradually inaugurating to adopt the new technology, inside limits. Fear about resistance and security from dealers concerned about losing revenue of service have hindered its adoption.

So far, well-known automakers have not used over-the-air updates for security systems, but only for non-critical methods like infotainment. “Users can also get the upgrade through the conventional means of using a USB drive or visiting their dealer,” Ford claimed. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are operating systems from Apple and Alphabet’s Google that permit drivers to link their handsets to the dashboard of their vehicles. The first use of over-the-air updates by Ford comes about two months post it claimed that it would employ 400 engineers to operate on connectivity, probably from shuttered phone handset business of Blackberry Ltd. The Sync 3 system of Ford is powered by Blackberry QNX.

Besides being more suitable for the users, over-the-air updates can also bring the happiness of cost savings to the automakers, since a considerable percentage of warranty repair recalls and issues can be approved via over-the-air updates.