We appreciate Ford’s invitation to attend their trends conference in Detroit, considering that I spend half my life in the car! I constantly shuttle los tweens and siblings to and from school, basketball, karate, Girl Scout meetings, Abuela‘s house and the list goes on and on. I was excited to hear about all the cool gadgets and great things the brand is working on to make my chauffer duties easier. What I learned was that Ford isn’t just working on a car for me, they’re working on a car for my tween as well!
What will the world look like when it comes time for our tweens to drive (cringe!)? No one can say for sure but a number of proposed features could make us – los padres – a little less nervous:
– “Sync” – Ford’s voice activated controls, are going to be able to send text and chat messages
– “My Key” – a programmed car key limiting certain features for the driver
– “No Seatbelt, No Tunes” – if the seatbelt is removed, the radio volume is severely decreased
– “Do Not Disturb” – an option which sends all incoming calls straight to voicemail
– “Lane Departure Warning” – alerts the driver if you’re getting close to the white lines without signaling and do this too many times and the car will suggest that the driver pull over and take a break!
Now some cool features for los padres:
– Streaming Pandora – I love streaming Pandora while I jog and now I can stream it in the car as well.
– Hands Free Power Lift gate – No need to press a button or dig out the key when your hands are full just give it a little kick and the trunk opens for you
– “Sync” Languages – While Sync currently understands Spanish and English, Ford is working on adding more languages.
And the one feature which they are working on that excited me the most: autonomous driving – cars that drive themselves. Maybe we’ll never have to teach los tweens to drive! The idea alone makes me sleep a little better.
Saludos,
Katherine
Disclosure: Ford paid for my travel to their 2012 conference. All opinions expressed are my own.
