Ford Motor Company has selected AT&T to provide wireless connectivity for the new Ford Focus Electric, Ford’s first all-electric passenger car. A MyFord Mobile smartphone app, using the embedded AT&T wireless connection, will provide Ford Focus Electric vehicle owners with have the ability to send and receive data about their car providing command and control of vehicle settings while away from it.
“Ford has been at the forefront of developing market leading telematics and infotainment services for its vehicles and we’re thrilled to be a part of this exciting and significant next step with the upcoming Focus Electric,” said Glenn Lurie, president of emerging devices, resale and partnerships, AT&T. “Connecting consumers directly to their electric vehicles in this new and innovative way is going to drive innovative and exciting levels of interaction.”
Some of the capabilities include the ability to:
- Find current and projected state of charge information including estimated range and the amount of charge time necessary for additional distances.
- Program vehicle charging with utility input, allowing the car to start charging immediately or when electricity prices are lowest with the value charging feature, powered by Microsoft.
- Features powered by MapQuest available on the MyFord smartphone app.
- Locate charging stations and get the destination sent to the vehicle.
- Know if the vehicle can reach a specific charge station from its current location with the current charge level.
- Create a journey with multiple stops, and determine the likelihood that the car has adequate charge for the full journey.
- Find the car by creating a route from a mobile phone to the vehicle.
- Receive alerts if the vehicle isn’t charging when it’s scheduled to, or if charging stops unexpectedly due to a power outage, plug removal or other event.
- Receive alerts during recharge when the vehicle has reached a particular preset charge level or has the ability to reach a particular destination.
- Engage remote vehicle preconditioning, using grid power to heat or cool the vehicle interior.
- Remotely lock/unlock doors.
- Use the built-in GPS system to locate the car.
- Download performance and system data.
- Fun ways of understanding your driver behavior, with ratings from ‘Zen’ to ‘Zippy’.
- Receive information personalized to the driver, depending on which key the driver used.
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