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April 13, 2012

Facebook Signs with Ford to Put Facebook in Vehicles

By Rory Lidstone, TMCnet Contributing Writer

Social networking giant Facebook (News - Alert) has announced its intention to team up with Ford Automotive to offer Facebook functionality in the car, according to an article from Digital Journal. While Facebook has until now been absent from the telematics industry, with the recent rise in connected vehicles, it is important to "make sure that Facebook is used in a responsible way that respects driver issues,” according to David Pio, Partner Engineer at Facebook.





Pio outlined his vision of how Facebook may function in a vehicle. Facebook in the automobile should play a vehicle-centric role by way of providing location-based services, making it easier to connect with friends and family while on the go.

"Most people think of applying current usage into a new medium, i.e. taking the Facebook newsfeed and narrating it into the vehicle," said Pio. But he thinks that a straight translation of Facebook as it is now isn't a viable option.

Pio will speak at Telematics Detroit 2012, a major telematics conference and exhibition, to provide a more complete picture of Facebook's vehicle integration plans. For now, Pio surely only hopes the role of social technologies in the vehicle can go beyond simple location services. The social network can be used as an identity service and take "what you know about the driver to help customize and personalize the vehicle experience."

As more vehicles are produced today with greater technology integration — rear entertainment screens, for example — Web integration is the next logical step. We've seen it with televisions, after all, and even some refrigerators. No major tech company had really stepped up to the plate of automotive integration yet, aside from music services like Slacker, which started being integrated with certain Ford vehicles last November, and now that a company as influential as Facebook has, things are likely to start evolving very quickly.




Edited by Braden Becker
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