Sync, XM Demo at New York Auto Show

We took a brief jaunt around the International Auto Show at the Javits Center in New York City this morning. In addition to checking out Speedracer’s Mach 5, we also sat down with Ford and XM to find out about their in-car navigation and entertainment technology.

Ford Sync

You’ve seen the commercial; now see how it works in real life. The disembodied male voice you hear is mine. The disembodied female voice—that’s coming from the car. Listen for its Vulcan-like interpretation of emoticons.

XM Navigation

This new service from XM, which was announced yesterday for the Acura TSX, not only routes you around heavy traffic, but around nasty weather, too. It’ll set you back an additional $3.99 a month, but the XM rep said that car makers would probably factor it into the total cost of the car.