Ford
Industryweek 10069 Ford Amazon

CES: Ford Teams with Amazon to Connect Homes with Cars

Jan. 5, 2016
The voice-activated technology will allow drivers to schedule appointments, close their garage door, and control lights and other home devices from their car.

LAS VEGAS—Ford unveiled an alliance Tuesday with Amazon aimed at allowing people to connect their cars into "smart home" networks.

The partnership, unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, aims to bring together connected vehicles with Amazon's Echo smart home hub. 

The tie-up will enable drivers to communicate with the hub and, for example, ask if their garage door is open, or request an appointment with their mechanic.

It also will allow drivers to control lights, thermostats, security systems and other home devices from their cars.

Working from the voice-activated Echo hub, people will also be able to stop, start, lock, unlock and check their vehicle's fuel range from home.

Ford chief executive Mark Fields told a news conference the tie-up came from Ford research efforts on "ways to link our smart cars to smart homes."

"We can't wait to offer this for consumers later this year," Fields said.

Echo is a smart personal assistant which is a rival of sorts to Apple's Siri and Google Now. Echo's Alexa can respond to questions and connect to other home devices.

Ford's connected car technology hub known as Sync will be integrated with Echo later this year. Ford says some 15 million cars on the road use Sync, and it expects the figure to grow to 43 million by 2020.

"Consumers increasingly want to stay connected to their homes while on the move," said Don Butler, Ford's head of connected services.

"Linking smart devices like Amazon Echo and (smart home platform) Wink to vehicles via SYNC would fulfill that desire, and allow consumers to connect with their vehicles even when they aren't behind the wheel."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2016

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Connected Manufacturing – The 5 most impactful use cases for Industry 4.0

April 18, 2023
Learn how to build a smarter, more connected factory through private cellular networks and five of the most impactful use cases. Create operational efficiencies and a safer work...

Gain a competitive edge with real-world lessons on private 5G networks

Nov. 16, 2023
The use of private networks in manufacturing applications is rapidly growing. In this paper, we present valuable insights and lessons learned from the field with the goal of enhancing...

Digital Production Tracking: How Connected Platforms with No-Code Deliver Value

Sept. 19, 2023
Manual tracking lacks the real-time visibility manufacturers need to identify root causes and remain competitive. Digital, connected production tracking is crucial for your operations...

Top Tips: A Smarter, Connected Approach to Digital Transformation

Aug. 25, 2023
Download these tips to learn how the digital enterprise can help companies seize crucial new business opportunities.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!