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joekiser writes "In 2010, Ford Motor Company was rated as top-five automotive manufacturer in terms of quality, per J.D. Power and Associates. This was a major turnaround for the automotive giant, which had faced bankruptcy just two years prior. This high reliability rating would be short lived however; Ford began installing touch screen hubs powered by Microsoft SYNC, which were both confusing and buggy.
By 2012, Ford quality rankings had dropped to 23rd, even after numerous software upgrades and a rebranding of SYNC to "MyFordTouch." One customer reported:
"The voice controls typically do not work until the vehicle has been on for five to 10 minutes, meaning short trips require dialing phone calls by hand, only to have the call cut off when the system finally starts up."
This slide continued into 2013, when Ford ranked 27th of 28 brands (as an aside, Ford's premium brand, Lincoln, ranked one slot higher that year at 26th).
Apparently, Ford Motor Company has had enough. On Friday, the Detroit News reported that Ford will make the switch to QNX on future vehicles. This is the same platform currently used by Acura, Audi, BMW, and Land Rover."
[ED Note: "Ford Motor Company's decision to move to QNX aside, I'll be heavily considering a Blackberry for my next phone, especially with rumors of a 64-bit octa-core model for later this year. BB10 also has gotten rave reviews for its design and ease-of-use."]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Sunday February 23 2014, @04:19PM
It doesn't even need to be opeb source, although that's always a bonus. There should be a standard, open API though, so entertainment and communication systems can talk to the car's systems while being upgradable. Basically, the system is the OS and the car is a set of peripherals.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 23 2014, @07:35PM
My Honda's OS had a rogue process that used up the battery and bricked my car! But because the body work is so thin it was a soft-brick and I could pry the bonnet open with little effort and jump start it with iTunes jump-starter and iBattery iLeads. It just worked. I'm so happy!