Ford/Lincoln/Mercury getting ‘SIRIUS’ about travel
Posted on 11 June 2008, at 11:18 pm, by David Goodspeed
Ford is moving in-car connectivity further forward with the launch of a next-generation navigation system, available for the first time ever with SIRIUS Travel Link.
With Travel Link, drivers and passengers will have access to up-to-the-minute information and entertainment content through the vehicle’s navigation system. This includes: current gas prices from an estimated 120,000 filling stations; local, real-time traffic information for 78 markets; coast-to-coast weather conditions with five-day forecasts; sports scores, and movie listings.
Travel Link works through the existing SIRIUS satellite and repeater infrastructure – offering uninterrupted, coast-to-coast coverage.
Specifically, the Ford SIRIUS Travel Link system provides information on:
Traffic Data: SIRIUS Travel Link combines real-time traffic speed and flow data with accident and incident information to allow the user to navigate around congested areas.
Weather: SIRIUS Travel Link shows coast-to-coast weather data, current conditions and five-day forecasts, detailed storm cell information, hurricane and tropical storm tracking, local wind speeds, and even ski resort conditions.
Fuel Prices: Drawing on information from more than 120,000 gas stations, SIRIUS Travel Link sorts fuel options by price, distance or alphabetically. If requested, the navigation system can route users to the gasoline station with the lowest fuel price.
Sports: No matter your passion – NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, NCAAF, NCAAB, and golf – SIRIUS Travel Link provides scores and schedules and can be personalized for the user’s selected teams.
Movies: With listings from more than 4,500 movie theaters, SIRIUS Travel Link helps consumers plan ahead by providing movie times, theater addresses, ratings and run lengths. Using the Ford navigation system, the data can be sorted by distance. If requested, the navigation system can route users to the selected movie theater.
“Having this information in a car is game-changing,” said Doug Wilsterman, SIRIUS senior vice president and general manager for automotive OEMs. “This is technology that drivers will use everyday.”
When introduced this summer, the all-new 2009 Lincoln MKS and Ford Flex models will be two of the first vehicles with Ford’s full suite of new in-car communications technologies, including Travel Link. The service will be offered on multiple Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles by the end of the year.
A six-month introductory subscription to the SIRIUS Travel Link service – combined with the SIRIUS Satellite Radio audio service – will be included in every Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicle equipped with Ford’s next-generation navigation system.
We got the opportunity to put the Travel Link technology through its paces during our time behind the wheel testing the new Lincoln MKS last week, and more than once we feel this new technology saved our proverbial butts. We could see storm rotation, wind speeds and direction (and were able to judge wind markers against each other for shear conditions) and precipitation and all presenting directional arrows in relationship to our location and headings.
We highly recommend this technology for anyone living in or traveling near areas of the U.S. where severe weather is commonplace or even possible.
Related posts:
2 Comments For This Post
June 12th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Thanks David – this is so unbelievably cool. It might even tip me toward buying a Ford in the future…
June 12th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
This is a very cool thing. Did you happen to come across a link for the list of the 78 markets this is supposed to support?