Cellport Systems and Ford Motor Co. have teamed to offer the Cellport 3000 with Voice Command hands-free docking station and adapter in select 2002-model Ford vehicles late this summer, Cellport said.
The Cellport 3000 with Voice Command was created to allow mobile-phone users to use their phones, hands free, while driving. The platform stores the names and numbers found in the user’s phone book, and dials those numbers via speech recognition technology.
The Cellport/Ford partnership coincidentally comes just weeks after New York became the first state to pass a law banning the use of cellular phones while driving. Such legislation is putting pressure on car manufacturers, wireless carriers and equipment providers alike, to provide safe options for their customers.
Janine Bay, managing director of global vehicle personalization in the automotive consumer services group for Ford, said Ford is committed to being a leader in industry safety.
“Cellport will work closely with Wingcast, Ford’s telematics venture with Qualcomm, to develop these future technologies,” Bay said.
The Cellport 3000 docking station will be part of the car’s console in Ford’s Taurus, Mercury, Expedition, Explorer and Winstar minivan model cars, as well as a dealer- and factory-installed option for selected Lincoln model sedans and SUVs, Cellport said.
The adapter accommodates the Nokia 5100 and 6100 series phones, as well as the Motorola Inc. StarTac, Timeport and Talkabout model handsets. Doug Daniels, vice president of business development for Cellport, said Cellport creates adapters for the various handset types partly based on the recommendations of wireless carriers.
“By the time this program launches in the fall, we will also be supporting Kyocera and Samsung phones,” he said.
Cellport’s goal is to have partnerships in place with two more major automotive manufacturers by the end of the year, said Daniels.
