Ford was one of the late car makers to add Android Auto support to their lineup, and they now have seven models being sold with Android Auto support. While the rest of them will see support at some point in the near future. Currently, the 2017 Ford Escape, Expedition, Explorer, Fusion, Mustang, Super Duty and the Transit all support Android Auto right now. Meaning you could go to your local Ford dealer and buy a brand new 2017 Ford Fusion and connect your phone and have Android Auto up and ready to go. It’s just that easy, there’s no hoops to jump through or anything like that.
Now as for those that will be getting support soon, those vehicles include the 2017 Ford C-MAX, Edge, Everest, F-150, Flex, Focus, Galaxy, Kuga, Mondeo, Ranger, S-MAX, Taurus and Vignale. It’s currently unclear when support will come for these vehicles, but they will likely come in an over-the-air software update to Ford’s SYNC infotainment system. This is actually how many other car makers have updated their infotainment systems to work with Android Auto – Kia, Buick and Hyundai being the big names to push out OTA’s. So while Ford does have a big number of vehicles with Android Auto, there’s still quite a few without them. And there doesn’t seem to be any hints about it coming to older vehicles, like those in the 2015 and 2016 model years. Which is a bit unfortunate, especially for those that just bought a brand new car.
Ford has been working hard to stay ahead of the pack with SYNC 3, and in addition to bringing Android Auto to their cars, they are also bringing support for Alexa, as they announced at CES 2017 earlier this month. With Alexa integration, users will be able to simply ask Alexa to check on the fuel or battery status of their car, they can also ask Alexa to start their car and so much more. Hyundai did something similar with the Google Assistant at CES 2017, both features are ones that we are excited to check out in the real world. Neither feature is available to the public just yet, as both are still in the very early stages of development.