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Ford's Buggy Infotainment System Referred To By Engineers As 'Polished Turd' and 'Unsaleable' (computerworld.com)
Lucas123 writes: A class-action lawsuit against Ford and its MyFord Touch in-vehicle infotainment system -- originally based on a Microsoft platform -- has brought to light corporate documents that show engineers at the Dearborn carmaker referred to the problematic technology as a "polished turd" that they feared would be "unsaleable." The documents even reveal that Henry Ford's great grandson experienced significant problems with MyFord Touch. In one incident, Edsel Ford was forced to wait on a roadside for the system to reset and could not continue to drive because he was unable to use the IVI's navigation system. The lawsuit describes an IVI screen that would freeze or go blank; generate error messages that wouldn't go away; voice recognition and navigation systems that failed to work, problems wirelessly pairing with smartphones, and a generally slow system. Ford's CEO Mark Fields even described his own travails with the SYNC IVI, referring to it as having crashed on several occasions, and that he was so frustrated with the system he may have damaged his car's screen out of aggravation. The civil suit is expected to go to trial in 2017.
There was a story on Hacker News a couple years ago, an embedded systems engineer (inside Ford) was lamenting upper-management's choice of Windows CE and BSquare for the system.
Interesting that the 3rd generation of SYNC (out since 2016 I think) is based on QNX and appears to very well received. No Microsoft, no BSquare, no Windows CE. QNX is a real-time operating system. Windows CE purports to be, but a) all the middleware crap that comes in MS Auto is so buggy and full of priority inversions etc,, give me a break.
Someone (maybe the Hacker News article?) said something along the lines of "the decision to use WinCE in MyFord Touch was a handshake on a golf course, and Ford has felt the pain ever since."
Every time I turn on my Ford truck, here's what I have to do to connect my phone via bluetooth:
1) select AUX
2) press menu
3) scroll to select source
4) click enter
5) scroll to select bluetooth
6) click enter
If while I sit in my truck I turn the vehicle off, turn it back on, I have to do the same thing over again. It doesn't remember shit between vehicle starts.
No usability testing, typical of Microsoft products.
Probably breaking an NDA here, but here's what's happening: Ford's autonomous vehicle division (AVD) has signed a 10-year exclusive partnership with the division at Microsoft that's developing the MyDrive system. That means all Ford vehicles for at least the first two product generations, probably more, will be running embedded Windows and using Microsoft cloud services for real-time video processing and sensor fusion (GPS, accelerometer, gyros, wheelspin, etc.)
The codename for all of this is an ominous-sounding "PodBay." You've been warned. Cover the driver camera when you talk about it, this bitch can read lips.
In fact, cover both cameras. There's one in the steering-wheel hub and one in the rearview mirror.
I have a 2015 F-150 Lariat. The rest of the truck is awesome. Truly I really love the rest of the truck. Engineering masterpiece and so many details right plus great gas mileage. I would give it 5 out of 5 stars....except the &$-)1#^!! My Ford Touch! I hate it! I am not a person to get too upset over things, but I had to pay $1,500 extra for something that doesn't work well and never will because Ford and MSFT stopped development on it. Also according to Ford there is no upgrade path except to buy a new truck some year in the future. When I turn my truck on it automatically connects via Bluetooth and plays something random....it grabs anything up on iCloud. I've had rap music, kid pop, French language lessons, metal, ....it's always a surprise. The navigation system is comical and pathetic circa late 1990's or early 2000's tech. I will just stop writing right here on this because I am already getting mad thinking about it.
I will never buy another Ford (or other make) without fully testing the infotainment system. Mobile device integration is too important in this day and age. It has to fully support Apple CarPlay and/or Andriod Auto or won't be considered.
I really dislike Ford for also not taking care of recent customers. $1,500 for something flawed and dead ended while my iPhone is half the cost and infinitely better plus getting updated all the time.
Buyer beware! Test it yourself fully before buying. Don't get a Ford until Apple Car Play comes standard (and not by a software update which may never come).
-Andy
It's a hybrid system. It doesn't send the video back. Lots of wack-ass ML code runs on the in-vehicle computer and talks to the mothership indirectly. It's sort of a realtime scheme with extensive dead-reckoning fallbacks, running under the same Windows instance that's playing your tunes.
If I say anything more I'll get a knock on the door at 5 AM, and believe me, I need the sleep.
The parent got moderated as Funny, but I think he was dead serious. When the Ford/Microsoft pairing was first announced years ago, I (and many others) immediately predicted major problems. Everything Microsoft touches turns to shit.
Everything.
Microsoft is the Reverse Midas, and always has been.