The week of January 7, 2007 was a hugely important preview of the future of cars and how we would interact them. In the span of three days, there were three major product announcements in three cities that all seemed distinct at the time but the convergence is now becoming clearer every day. The week kicked off with General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz revealing the original Chevrolet Volt concept at the Detroit Auto Show. Later that same day, then future Ford CEO Mark Fields joined Microsoft CEO Bill Gates on stage at CES in Las Vegas to announce the SYNC connectivity system. Finally, two days later Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed the world the iPhone at Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

Each of those three products has evolved significantly in the last eight years and with each passing day we get closer to the fusion of them all, potentially in an Apple car. While that latter product is still likely years away from being announced, touchscreen smartphones are now ubiquitous with more than two billion in use around the world. They are so prevalent that we now expect to be able to use them anywhere and everywhere including behind the wheel. While plug-in vehicles currently represent only a tiny fraction of the world’s vehicle parc, they too will likely one day dominate and with the addition of autonomous capability our vehicles may well become nothing more than a place to consume content while being moved around.

Along the way to that utopian (or dystopian depending on your feelings about driving) future, we’re taking one step at a time, occasionally stumbling as we go. While the original SYNC was well received when it debuted, giving drivers voice controlled access to media and calling capability on their phones and MP3 players, subsequent versions have often caused drivers as much grief as convenience. SYNC ver. 2, more commonly now under the brand name MyFord Touch (MFT) dramatically expanded on the capabilities of the original.  

The MyFord Touch homescreen

As touchscreen interfaces rapidly gained in popularity thanks to the iPhone, Ford added a large, full-color touchscreen and capacitive touch center stack controls to SYNC. Buttons and knobs were largely banished for the audio and climate controls with drivers instead urged to slide a finger to change the temperature of volume. Sadly, it was a disaster. The software was buggy, the interface was confusing and the processors driving the system were woefully underpowered, leading to system crashes and slow responses even when it did run. Ford pushed out multiple software updates to improve the performance and stability of MFT, but even in its final incarnation, while vastly improved, it was still often frustrating to use.

The cabin of the 2016 Ford Escape SE with SYNC 3

Thankfully, while continuously improving on MFT, Ford worked in parallel on a complete redesign from the ground up to address the customer complaints that had driven its quality ratings into the ground. SYNC 3 was first announced and demonstrated in December 2014 and it began shipping to customers in 2016 models including the Escape, Focus, Mustang and F-150.  

Since debuting MFT on the Edge in 2010, Ford has backed away from touch controls and everything introduced since the 2013 Fusion has gone back to traditional buttons, switches and rotary knobs. With the development of SYNC 3, Ford has also abandoned the Microsoft Car platform which underpinned SYNC from day one in favor of the much more robust and reliable QNX operating system. QNX is a real-time operating system that is widely used by many of the world’s automakers along with a wide range of other applications ranging from traffic control systems to medical equipment to nuclear power plants.

As a driver, you’ll never have to interact directly with QNX though, it’s just the foundation for systems like SYNC 3. In creating the user interface for this new version of SYNC, Ford clearly took to heart the complaints of MFT users. The four-quadrant, information dense layout with small touch targets on the screen is gone. In its place is a bright, clean layout that has taken inspiration from the best designs of mobile apps while clearly being optimized for the car.

A permanent dock resides along the bottom of the screen with icons and labels that take you directly to media, climate control, phone, navigation, apps and settings. Within these screens, you get large tiles with easy to hit targets for various functions. This is critically important for a car interface, especially in something like the 2016 Escape where I tried out SYNC 3.

The touchscreen is mounted high on top of the center stack and set back under a hood to minimize glare. The result is a long reach with your arm fully outstretched in order to tap the screen. When driving, this means your extended finger is often moving around much more than when tapping icons on a phone held close to the body. While I would have preferred a screen closer to me, the interface worked very well throughout my week with the Escape.

Aside from stability and design, the other oft-repeated complaint about MFT was sluggish response. The long delays before the system responded to a tap meant you could never be quite sure if a tap registered. Significantly more processing power and the improved OS underneath mean  that a tap on the screen now brings an almost instant response, no more wondering.

Ford’s developers have even incorporated some attractive animations as you transition between screens. When you tap the home button, the map tile that occupies the left hand side the screen slides in from that direction while the now playing tiles slides down from the top right and the phone status tile comes in from the right. It’s a nice touch that operates quickly enough that you never feel like you are waiting, but it’s pleasing to the eye.

The voice recognition system in SYNC 3 has also been updated with newer capability from Nuance that is more reliable and robust. The system did a good job of reliably recognizing my commands although as usual with embedded navigation the point of interest database was more limited than what you’ll get searching with Google or Siri. Speaking of Siri, if you connect an iPhone, SYNC 3 supports eye’s free so you can execute Siri commands without touching your iPhone.

SYNC 1.x was always designed as a system for vehicles without touchscreens while V2 (MFT) was touch enabled. For reasons that have never been clearly explained although it probably has something to do with the latter system being underpowered, Ford only ever made its AppLink capability available with the non-touch systems. AppLink is the feature that Ford added in 2011 to enable drivers to control selected smartphone apps directly from the head unit or via voice commands. At various times, there have been as many as 60 compatible apps available for iOS and Android although the number has varied depending on whether developers have updated apps to be compatible with the latest AppLink APIs.

The SYNC 3 AppLink screen gives you direct access to compatible apps on iPhone or Android

With SYNC 3, AppLink is finally available on a touchscreen system and I tried it out with my 2014 Moto X (an Android phone). I used several apps including Stitcher, Pandora, Spotify and Glympse. Like Android Auto and Apple Carplay, SYNC 3 presents all media apps with a common player interface so that the look is consistent and drivers aren’t searching for controls. The system works really well and enables drivers to launch apps and do many of the internal controls like selecting playlists/stations, play/pause and thumbs up with voice commands.

Unfortunately, despite Ford’s decision to open source the AppLink code and APIs in 2013, no other OEM or aftermarket manufacturer has yet adopted the technology. By opening the code, Ford hoped that more developers would make their apps AppLink-compatible with support for multiple cars. As a result, app support is limited but hopefully as SYNC 3 rolls out to the rest of the Ford and Lincoln lineup over the next year, more apps will get updated.

SYNC 3 includes WiFi which can connect to your home internet connection or any other hotspot. When the car is parked in your garage or driveway, it will automatically connect to your network (assuming you’ve set it up with your password) and check for SYNC updates. When Carplay, Android Auto or any other update becomes available, it will automatically download and install with no user interaction required. One of these days, you’ll get in to drive to work and the new capabilities will just be there.  Sadly, none of this will be able to be ported to existing MyFord Touch equipped vehicles because the hardware won’t support it.

Ford has had a rough few years on the infotainment front since launching MyFord Touch. The engineers in Dearborn have heard the complaints and while it took longer than many of us had hoped, SYNC 3 really does seem to push Ford back to the head of the class as far as embedded systems are concerned. It’s fast, reliable, capable and best of all upgradeable. If you are buying a new Ford or Lincoln and SYNC 3 is available on the option sheet, go for it. If you’re still shopping, take a look at a Dearborn product because this might just tip you over if all else is equal. As vehicles get more electrified and automated in the coming years, connectivity will only increase and we’ll be using our phones as a more fundamental part of the mobility experience.

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