Posting from Las Vegas: Telenav today unveiled a new service called Scout that bundles a collection of location-based services with turn-by-turn driving directions, releasing it initially as a free iPhone app.
At the Consumer Electronics Show today, Ford announced its support for the service, detailing plans to include Scout as the selected personal navigation service in its Ford Sync AppLink program — allowing the app to be controlled with voice commands and steering wheel buttons. Ford says it will be available for use in compatible vehicles in the U.S. starting later this year.
Telenav didn’t give specific plans for other mobile platforms, but said Scout will be “seamlessly accessible across the web, smartphones, and in-car systems.”
It’s part of a trend toward intelligent digital assistants controlled by voice commands, with Apple’s Siri being another prominent example. TeleNav, based in California, has a substantial presence in Kirkland, Wash.
Here is the list of key features in the Scout app.
- My Dashboard – always know when to leave with traffic-based drive times just a glance away
- My Routes – never get lost with award-winning Telenav turn-by-turn directions, used to drive more than 10 billion miles every year
- My Traffic – avoid traffic jams with real-time traffic for your daily commute
- My Places – discover great, new places wherever you are or going to be
- My Favorites – remember that great hole-in-the-wall you discovered with my favorites
- My Music – hear your iPod tunes without ever leaving your app
- My Devices – use Scout on your computer, on your phone, and soon in your car (with equipped cars)
