Ford, together with Microsoft, first announced their Sync system a few years ago and the system made its debut on the 2008 Ford Focus. Ever since its debut Sync has been offered in just about every Ford, Mercury and Lincoln model.

Well, Ford and Sync have come a long way as the automaker has recently stated that they have shipped their 1 millionth vehicle that was equipped with Sync. In fact, the millionth vehicle was given to Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, as a gift.

Futhermore, Ford also says that they have updated Sync’s software so that it can now check the weather, breaking news events, traffic reports and turn-by-turn navigation. Ford currently only offers the Sync system in English, Spanish and French but hope to expand it to German, Mandarin, Arabic, Italian, Dutch and Russian in an attempt to expand their market share.

It’s nice to see at least one US automaker is doing good in these tough economic times.

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Adura Systems Inc. continues to improve on its electric range of medium and large vehicles by adding the Freescale Semiconductor’s FlexRay automotive microcontroller for high-speed in-vehicle networking. This development is seen as a great move towards the direction of bringing down the growing problems of carbon emissions while providing more power.

FlexRay technology is unique among vehicle communication systems in its determinism and high speed. This technology, combined with DEFT-net, allows Adura to shift traditional mechanical and electronic complexity into software which increases efficiency and lowers overall systems costs.

“Adura’s selection of Freescale’s S12XF MCU is another milestone for FlexRay technology as the communications standard is now being deployed in both conventional and ‘green’ vehicles,” said Ray Cornyn, director of automotive microcontrollers at Freescale. “By leveraging the exceptional performance of FlexRay technology, Adura is setting compelling new standards for electric and hybrid vehicles that are designed to significantly reduce global emissions.”

(Source) Press

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