In-Car WiFi Coming Soon to Ford Focus
Posted on Sep 25, 2014 in Safety | 3 comments
Ford Focus: WiFi hotspot
I freely admit, I get kinda twitchy when I’m away from the Internet.
Between my at-home service, the wireless hotspots at Starbucks and my beloved WiFi iPod Touch, it’s not often that the World Wide Web eludes me.
The one place WiFi has yet to infiltrate my life is in the car, which only recently became glaringly apparent when my online addiction kicked in and I happened to be at the one point on Earth farthest from all things WiFi: the middle of Wyoming.
Wyoming should be known for the two things it has in abundance: antelope and dirt. Unfortunately for me, neither of those is useful when the ultimate Facebook status comes to mind while barreling across a desolate freeway at 80 miles an hour.
If only a car company catered to online addicts by building vehicles that are also wireless hotspots…
Soon, Ford will oblige.
The company will update its SYNC with MyFord Touch technology to add a rolling WiFi hotspot for all those passengers who suffer from Internet withdrawal while traveling.
The system will support up to five connected devices and will start to appear in new Ford Focus vehicles in the UK next year.
Ford says it will be the first time WiFi has appeared in a standard consumer car, but you can be sure the technology will show up in other cars soon.
I’m pretty confident our jgoods will think anyone with more intelligence than an average cantaloupe will see that this is a terrible idea. He has a valid point; drivers are already distracted enough between nav systems, food and drink, music controls, cell phones and keeping their eyes on the road.
But seriously, in-car WiFi isn’t for drivers. It’s for passengers who need a fix while passing through the desolate and dusty section of desert some people call Wyoming.
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I always believed that the scariest thing on a road was a woman driving down the road smoking a cigarette with a cell phone on her shoulder putting on her makeup while stretching her neck to check on the rug rat in the back seat. This is far more frightening. Science has proven long ago that other than walking and chewing gum, a human can’t do two things well at the same time.
C’mon, tg, how many people are driving the dusty desert in Wyoming that Ford needs to put this stuff in its cars? It would be more fitting for a businessman in Chicago, but even he could get out of his car for a minute and find a wifi spot. Wait till Ford gets sued for its first accident caused by this nonsense.
I’m certainly against anything that distracts drivers, but I’m all for tech to entertain and connect passengers. WiFi should be available in all cars, whether for family road trips or business uses. Airplanes are getting it… why not cars?