Sun Teams with Ford Research to Design "Internet Services Vehicle" of the Future

Sun Teams with Ford Research to Design "Internet Services Vehicle" of the Future

Sun has collaborated with Ford Research Laboratory, the research and development arm of Ford Motor Company, to design and develop the Vehicle Consumer Services Interface. This architecture has the capability of allowing the addition of multiple devices and services to the vehicle design, such as cell phones, pagers, and PDAs, without the need to reprogram legacy code or change the internal systems that may affect reliability and increase costs. As a result, future car buyers may have the ability for virtually continuous access to information services tailored to their needs, preferences and locations, including:

• real-time weather and traffic reports specific to commuting routes or travel itineraries.
• financial or other information relevant to scheduled meetings.
• restaurant and menu suggestions and reservation services, tailored to individual calendar schedules and tastes.
• hands-off, heads-up presentation of information or voice communications.

Using this design, the industry will gain opportunities for:

• Integrating new services and devices into the legacy vehicle environment at minimal cost
• Creating a 3-4 year engineering lifecycle for vehicles for longer impact integration of new technologies into the vehicle environment
• Using an XML-based content delivery mechanism that allows integration and connection with multiple services and devices, regardless of platform and language
• Enhanced revenue by having a vehicle with leading-edge technology architecture for a competitive edge.

Consultants from Sun Services helped Ford design this architecture based on open standards and powered by such as Jini(tm), Java(tm) and XML technologies. The Sun(tm) Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) Studio 4Mobile Edition has been used to facilitate the development of certain applications within this architectural framework.

"This is a world-class solution that brings the best of Sun to bear for Ford. The quality, flexibility and openness of this solution is truly providing Ford with a potential competitive advantage," said Dan Hushon, Director of Strategy for Sun Services consulting group. "Our ability to develop a solution that meets our customer's goals is critical, and this demonstrates that we have the knowledge and technology to do just that, regardless of the challenge." Hushon, who helps provide leadership around market, technology, partner and engagement strategy for Sun Services, was instrumental in the design of this architecture. Sun experts will on hand at the CTIA conference to discuss this and other leading-edge technology solutions.

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