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Computerworld reports
Ford engineer called MyFord Touch infotainment system "a polished turd"
Documents in a class-action lawsuit against Ford and its original MyFord Touch in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system reveal that the company's engineers and even its top executive were frustrated with the problematic technology.
The documents from the 2013 lawsuit show Ford engineers believed the IVI, which was powered by the SYNC operating system launched in 2010, might be "unsaleable" and even described a later upgrade as a "polished turd", according to a report in the Detroit News , which was confirmed by Computerworld.
The SYNC OS was originally powered by Microsoft software. Microsoft continued releasing software revisions it knew were defective, according to the lawsuit.
"In the spring of 2011, Ford hired Microsoft to oversee revisions, and hopefully the improvement, of the [software]. But ... Microsoft was unable to meaningfully improve the software, and Ford continued releasing revised software that it knew was still defective", the lawsuit states.
[The week of October 3], a U.S. District Court judge certified the case as a class action.
Consumer groups from nine states are involved in the lawsuit against Ford. 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.
[...] In 2014, Ford announced it was dropping Microsoft as the platform supplier for SYNC and moving to one based on Blackberry QNX for its SYNC 3 IVI.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday October 25 2016, @01:38PM
The problem the IVI has is in an absolute sense its not that big of a deal compared to a leaking transmission or tires that explode or top heavy SUVs that always rollover in accidents, but that the competition (which I have) is a simple gasoline powered hundred watt bluetooth speaker.
It just freaking works. I can't schedule oil changes with it, can't post on myspace walls or whatever was cool back when my car was in R+D. But I listen to music and podcasts and audiobooks and GPS navigation on my phone works fine, and its kinda boring how well it just works...
The only fault I have is the wiring harness has one wire connecting to the speed sensor and I need to clip it, or my wife can't pair BT when she's in the passenger seat and the speed is over 5 mph.
I have a pretty luxurious UI for HVAC in my car, theres a mechanical knob thats always located in the same place (no mode/context switching) and it has nice physical feedback via clicky feel. So I can change the fan speed in less than a second while I'm driving and looking out the window the whole time without feeling like I'm surfing the net for five minutes on my work desktop to do the same thing. I also hate speech interfaces because I already have plenty of experience arguing with my kids.
"Shut off the light" "Did you mean microwave some popcorn? I'm sorry I don't know how to do that" "No shut off the light" "OK changing radio station to hip hop 101.1" "No car, shut off the light" "I'm sorry Dave I can't let you do that" "Fuck you car, do you know how much I'd like to see a junkyard turn you into Chinese razor blades?" ... "Shutting off the light" "Thanks car". On my much more advanced and friendlier UI car you just push a button of course. Much nicer and more civilized.
You know your UI fails when its indistinguishable in frustration level from trying to get a teenage boy to do his math homework. Or do anything.
IVI means in vehicle "infotainment" and the "infotainment" is everybody else laughing as I rant and swear about how crappy the UI is.
In a relative sense IVI epic fails compared to the alternative of "Hi, I'm your 100 watt gasoline powered bluetooth speaker".