Automobile giant Ford Motor this year will debut vehicles with built-in WiFi
-- along with enhanced security features to prevent data breaches via its new
cars.
Ford has offered the so-called Sync technology service it co-developed with
Microsoft in most of its Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles since 2008. The
technology lets drivers run their Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and digital
media players via their vehicles and use voice commands to operate them, for
instance.
The automaker announced today that the second generation of its Sync
technology -- due out later this year and to include a full Windows CE operating
system with a new driver interface called MyFordTouch -- will come with a
built-in browser and secured WiFi access. It will first debut in the 2011 Ford
Edge and 2011 MKX Lincoln, and later, in the 2010 Ford Focus.
"We really began to focus on the security side when we began launching Sync,
and it was [originally] for working with phones and media players," says Jim
Buczkowski, director of Ford electronics and electrical systems engineering. "Now
we're extending that system connectivity to include WiFi as another data path
for customers in their vehicles ... and we're extending that security model for
protecting WiFi."
