FIAT-Chrysler has updated their Uconnect infotainment system for many Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and RAM vehicles made between 2013 and 2015. The new update brings Apple’s Siri Eyes Free to the Uconnect system for nearly two million Uconnect-equipped vehicles! “With the addition of the Siri Eyes. Oct 13, 2017 Has anyone experienced problems with Siri Eyes Free and the Ford Sync 3 system? Everything had been working fine where I could hold the talk button in for 3 seconds (on the steering wheel) and I could tell her set a reminder or give me directions.
Ford is offering a software update to more than 5 million SYNC-equipped vehicle owners – with vehicles dating all the way back to the 2011 model year – adding Apple Siri Eyes-Free capability for hands-free access to additional iPhone® features
Ford’s unique global software platform approach with SYNC makes it easy to offer updates to customers, no matter where they live
SYNC is the world’s leading entertainment and communications system with more than 12-million vehicles on the road and is recognized for being the first to widely and most affordably offer voice-activated technology to control smartphones
DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 3, 2015 – Ford today is releasing a new software update for more than 5 million SYNC-equipped vehicles dating back to the 2011 model year, adding more convenience for Apple iPhone users with Siri Eyes-Free capability.
“SYNC, Ford’s entertainment and communications system, was designed to be flexible and updatable, just like other mobile technologies, so our customers are able to get the most out of their smartphones while behind the wheel,” said Sherif Marakby, director, Ford Electronics and Electrical Systems Engineering. “Siri Eyes-Free is another great voice-activated feature that not only adds convenience but helps our customers keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.”
Siri Eyes-Free allows drivers to activate Siri with a long press of the voice recognition button on the steering wheel, similar activating Siri on an iPhone. Drivers can use just their voice to ask Siri for requests including:
Making phone calls to contacts in their address book
Looking up phone numbers for restaurants or other points of interest
Setting a reminder or alarm
Asking about the weather
Select and play music
Audibly send and receive text messages
Getting directions through Apple Maps
For a demonstration of new Siri Eyes-Free capability for MyFord Touch, click here.
The new software update is available for vehicles equipped with the second generation of SYNC, known as MyFord Touch in North America, ranging from model years 2011 to 2016.
The simple, downloadable update will be available through http://owner.ford.com/.
SYNC’s capability and its ability to receive software updates plays a key role in the Ford connectivity strategy being accelerated through Ford Smart Mobility, which is the company’s plan to take connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics to the next level.
SYNC is the world’s leading entertainment and communications system with more than 12 million vehicles on the road worldwide.
Good news: Ford has figured a way to retroactively give Apple Siri Eyes-Free capabilities to five million Fords and Lincolns dating back to 2011 models. Eyes-Free is a way to communicate to Siri and thus to your iPhone via the car’s press-to-talk button. You can ask Siri just about anything so long as the back-and-forth is all spoken: your requests to Siri, Siri’s responses to you. Not much displays on Ford’s 8-inch color LCD (which continues showing whatever was on the display like the current music playing) and nothing at all shows on the phone because Eyes-Free it’s blanked out once Eyes-Free take over.
Along with current cars already set up for Eyes-Free, that means the majority of the 12 million Fords built with one of the three flavors of Sync can now use Eyes-Free. This update is for Ford Sync version 2, the one that is being superseded in 2015 and 2016 models. You’ll need to download a Sync update, either at home (via a USB key) or at the dealership, but check first to see if you’ll be charged, since this is not a bug fix. Sync 1 (2008-2011) is not updatable, and Sync 3 (some 2016 cars, virtually all 2017s) already has it.
How it works
When a smartphone shares the steering wheel push-to-talk button, a short touch summons the car’s voice recognition system. A long press alerts the phone the request is for the phone’s voice recognizer, in this case Siri Eyes-Free. Ford says, “Drivers can use just their voice to ask Siri for requests,” meaning “drivers can use only their voice,” because the phone display is blanked and Eyes-Free is not sophisticated enough, nor are the cars of the era ready, to display on the dash LCD anything gleaned from the phone.
(This doesn’t stop the phone from displaying iPhone music or phonebook entries, since that’s done outside of Eyes-Free.)
According to Ford, some of the things you can do via Eyes-Free are:
- “Audibly” send and receive text messages. A text comes in, it’s read — spoken — to you. You want to send a text, you dictate what you want to see (so to speak) sent, then how close Siri comes to parsing your message, all without knowing if Siri is spelling it “to,” “too” or “2” or if “Gwen” once again parses as “Quinn.” It’s better than nothing.
- Choose and play music. You could also do this via the existing dashboard-to-phone interface and see what you’ve chosen. Still, it’s kind of cool the first time say “Play the Boss” and Siri knows you mean Springsteen.
- Ask about the weather here or at your destination if navigation is also running, or by naming another city.
- Set an alarm or reminder.
- Look up phone numbers for points of interest.
- Make calls to phone book contacts.
- Get directions through Apple maps. (Directions via Google Maps running on your iPhone? Fuggedaboutit.)
Makes you wish there’s a download for Sync 3
Apple Siri Eyes Free
According to Sherif Marakby, director of Ford Electronics and Electrical Systems Engineering, “SYNC, Ford’s entertainment and communications system, was designed to be flexible and updatable, just like other mobile technologies, so our customers are able to get the most out of their smartphones while behind the wheel.”
An owner who’s seen the wonders of Sync 3 — a seriously up-to-date and useful interface — might wish the “flexible and updatable” part of Sync extended to ditching Sync 2 and downloading Sync 3. That is not in the cards, because Sync 2 is tied to old hardware and the last-generation operating system from Microsoft, rather than BlackBerry’s QNX that powers Sync 3.
Siri Eyes Free Jeep
Sorry.