Ford has integrated IMS Health's Allergy Alert app into its Sync AppLink software to allow drivers with an iPhone or iPad to track pollen counts on the road.
Allergy
symptoms will be on the radar for drivers with an iPhone or iPad. Ford Motor
Co. has added IMS Health's Allergy App to its
Sync AppLink
platform, which allows drivers to connect their mobile apps with their car
computer system through Bluetooth or USB and operate the system using voice
commands and steering wheel buttons.
Health
care IT company IMS Health's Allergy Alert app for Apple iOS allows users to gain
information on conditions in the driver's area that may lead to allergy
symptoms, such as a sore throat or nasal congestion.
Ford
has deployed Sync AppLink on 10 of its 2012 vehicles, including the Expedition,
Fusion, F-150 and Super Duty. The app will also soon be added to the 2013
Focus, E-Series and C-Max.
"Mobile
health apps are changing the way consumers manage their own wellness, and Ford
Sync provides the platform to extend this growing trend to the driving experience,"
Doug VanDagens, global director of Ford Connected Services, said in a
statement. "The Sync AppLink-enabled Allergy Alert app allows drivers to
quickly check current and upcoming pollen and other health risk conditions with
simple voice commands while keeping their hands on the wheel and eyes on the
road."
Seasonal
allergies affect 20 percent of Americans per year, according to Pollen.com.
Ford
and
IMS Health announced the new app's
availability on Aug. 2. Allergy Alert allows drivers to access a verbal pollen
index with the verbal command "Allergy." The app rates pollen level
severity in the driver's environment from 0 to 12.
The
"Pollen" command allows drivers to tell the app that pollen is
around, and "Flu" asks the app to compile a flu index for the area.
In addition, by saying the command "UV, drivers get information on UV ray
risks coming up on their route.
With
"ZIP 1," "ZIP 2" and "ZIP 3," drivers can get
allergy data for up to three ZIP codes.
The
free Allergy Alert app is part of Ford's mobile health plan to connect patients
to health applications using Sync. Ford first announced its plans to add
connectivity to mobile health data in May 2011.
In
addition to allergies, Ford is focused on helping drivers and passengers with chronic illnesses such as diabetes. Ford
developed a prototype system to connect Ford Sync to a Medtronic
glucose-monitoring device using Bluetooth.
At
the January 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show, Ford announced a "doctor
in your car" prototype system along with health engagement company Healthrageous
and software developers BlueMetal Architects that allows drivers to upload data
to Microsoft HealthVault and store driver information on the
Windows
Azure cloud platform.
With
Sync, Ford wants to move in-car connectivity systems beyond information and
entertainment, according to Gary Strumolo, global manager of Ford Research and
Innovation.
Still,
drivers shouldn't expect the vehicle to overstep itself by storing personal
health information, he noted.
"The
car itself will not diagnose, it will not make predictions, it will simply report
back what the readings are," Strumolo told
eWEEK in a January interview. "And it will also not store data
or send data in a way the owner does not agree to."
By
making mobile health apps available in the car, Ford avoids storing the data on
its own systems, added K. Venkatesh Prasad, senior technical leader for
innovation at Ford.
"What
we're really trying to do is get data to the driver in an unobtrusive model
that doesn't require Ford to store data, but pipe data to the cloud,"
Prasad told
eWEEK in January.
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