It’s the second car with embedded wireless announced this week…Ford’s Focus Electric will have a built-in AT&T connection, the car maker announced Tuesday.
The car uses the AT&T connection to send information on its status to the cloud. The driver then uses a MyFord Mobile smartphone app or computer to get info on the car and control the car’s settings even from miles away. In this way, drivers get up to the minute data on their car, says Ford.
They can find out how much charge is left in the car, which is all electric, so it’s a good thing to know. There’s no gas back up. And they can program the car to start charging at certain times of day.
There’s remote door lock/unlock capability and a car locator feature. Users also get alerts if the car isn’t properly charging and they can find nearby charging stations.
At launch, most smartphones will work with the MyFord Mobile app.
The Focus Electric was introduced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show and it heads into production late this year.
Audi announced this week that its 2012 A7 will have an embedded T-Mobile connection.
Source: Ford
