Ford's Cars Listen and Obey

BRENTWOOD, UNITED KINGDOM - October 29 2009: Ford cars respond to spoken commands to help driver safety and convenience.

Ford drivers can change the radio station, adjust the climate control or even control the satellite navigation system without taking their eyes off the road or hands off the wheel.

Ford's Voice Control enhances driving all Ford models in a number of ways. For example, stating a few simple commands enables a phone number to be selected and dialled by a bonded mobile phone with Bluetooth®.

Ford's Voice Control technology also allows drivers to operate their radio and CD system, adjust the climate control and select a route on the satnav system.

Markus Pazina, Ford navigation and connectivity engineer, said: “We have designed Ford Voice Control to be easy and intuitive to use. Drivers need to remember just a few simple commands, like ‘phone’ or ‘dial name’, and the system guides them step-by-step.”

Ford Voice Control uses powerful voice recognition software which is designed to accommodate a wide range of different speech types and regional accents. It does not require any ‘teaching’ to learn the driver’s voice characteristics.

To simplify Voice Control operation, drivers can create personal ‘voice tags’ to recall frequently dialled numbers or favourite radio stations. Once these tags have been recorded, the system will recognise the name and select the required phone number or station frequency without the need for further information.

An easy-to-use guide to the most common voice commands and the hands-free phone functions can be found under Manual at www.ford-mobile-connectivity.com.