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TuneIn announced Tuesday that it is being integrated into Ford’s Sync AppLink platform, which enables users of Ford Sync-enabled vehicles to control apps using voice controls. Users will be able to access TuneIn Radio’s more than 50,000 FM, AM, HD and Internet radio stations, and will be able to conduct voice searches for artists or genres or explore top stations using their location information. The news follows an announcement last week that TuneIn was launching a “car mode” for its Android app, allowing users to use voice commands to conduct searches and find music.

TuneIn is already in use on more than 150 devices such as the Logitech Squeezebox and Sonos’ line of connected speaker. And it’s been integrated into certain BMW and Mini vehicles, but that service was white labeled. Now, the company expects to announce a lot more branded deals with auto companies this year and beyond as it tries to conquer the in-car experience, something Internet radio leader Pandora has got a big head start on.

John Donham, CEO of TuneIn, told me about 100,000 TuneIn Radio users utilize the service through in-car solutions, though many more probably connect to the serivce with in-car Bluetooth. But he said he believes there’s a great opportunity to expand TuneIn’s presence, because about half of radio listening is done in-car. He said TuneIn’s ability to find relevant music and content for users is a big step up over existing radio, which is still one of the most popular ways for people to discover new music.

“There is tons of compelling content on the radio all the time but there hasn’t been a spectacular interface for finding it. We see that as a huge opportunity,” Donham said.

Donham said future deployments of TuneIn in vehicles will be able to integrate with a car’s FM chip to provide local stations, and then seamlessly switch over to streaming radio when a car travels beyond FM broadcasting range. That’s important as users face more data caps that can put a crunch on streaming services.

Donham said despite the belief that 8-tracks, taps and CDs would kill radio, nothing has. And apps like TuneIn Radio show the enduring popularity of the medium.

“The Ford deal is just the beginning for us,” said Donham. “I think a lot of listening will shift to digital. We’re seeing people using digital dashboard rather than their analog dash.”

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As big carmakers move more and more into the electric vehicle market, engineers are working overtime to develop applications that will help ease customers’ minds and smooth the transition to EVs, representatives from Ford Motor Company and vehicle technology firm OnStar said in a panel at Thursday’s Green:Tech 2011 conference.

“When we did development of the [first Ford] electric vehicle, we discovered that the EV requires a different level of connectivity,” Edward Pleet, a business development manager in Ford’s connected services organization, said.

Providing consumers with in-depth information about their vehicles creates a positive feedback loop that benefits both car drivers and the environment. “With better choices, people will make better decisions,” said Nick Pudar, the business development VP at OnStar, which develops technology for General Motors.

While many industries, including healthcare, have benefitted from opening up to using independently developed applications, it may be a while before developers can hack out new apps for cars. “We’re very interested in making available appropriate APIs for third party developers,” Pudar said. “[But] our primary objective is to ensure vehicle operation is safe and secure.”

But amid all the opportunities to develop new apps, carmakers have to be careful to not alienating consumers with too much technology at once. “The key is keeping it simple for the consumer,” Pleet noted. “If the process is [too] complex, at that point, people check out.”

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The idea is to make information about energy usage and driving range readily available and easy to grasp, he said, because “We believe any worries go away if you have answers to your questions.” The platform for this worry-squelching system, it turns out, will be provided by Microsoft, with its Windows Embedded Automotive software.

Unveiled this week at the SAE Convergence conference in Detroit, the latest version of Windows Embedded Auto includes Tellme speech recognition (allowing voice control of the in-dash interface and text messaging), tools for integrating third-party systems, and a version of Silverlight for 2-D and 3-D graphics.

In the Nissan LEAF, an earlier version of the Windows Embedded platform will power what the companies are calling an “information hub.” This is part of the EV-IT system first described during the vehicle prototyping stage last year. It encompasses an onboard transmitting unit connected through mobile networks to a data center. In-vehicle IT services include a display of the radius that the car can drive using the current battery charge, as well as the location of nearby public charging stations.

Perry told us in July that the automaker is working with AT&T to provide a connection for digital services for the car, which also has a dedicated iPhone application. Using the app, LEAF owners will be able to remotely monitor the state of charge of the battery, and can pre-heat or pre-cool the car. And as we all know, the iPhone — one of the most important platforms for mobile application development — is still exclusively on the AT&T network.

According to Perry, using Windows Embedded for the LEAF was a joint decision by Nissan and Clarion, which is supplying the hardware box and touch screen for the information hub. Nissan gave Clarion a set of specifications, he said, and then Clarion, a subsidiary of Hitachi, selected the best platform to deliver those requirements. The process began about two years ago, and a year later all of the car’s specs were locked in. It’s only been within the last six months, he said, that the company committed to using Windows.

Down the road, might Nissan and Microsoft find more common ground in the electric vehicle market — potentially through Microsoft’s Hohm energy management tool? It wouldn’t be the first time the Redmond giant made a leap from the belly of a car to managing its charge and integration with the smart grid. Ford and Microsoft (which have a longstanding alliance on the Ford Sync system) announced in March that the automaker will deploy Hohm in its upcoming electric vehicles to manage battery charging, starting with the Ford Focus next year.

To use Hohm’s basic service, a consumer logs into the Hohm website, entering as little information as their Windows Live ID and their zip code. Taking this location information, Hohm uses algorithms licensed from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy to start predicting the consumer’s home energy consumption. For the most accurate predictions possible, the consumer can answer up to 180 questions, ranging in topic from home size to water heater brand. Hohm will incorporate smart meter data as such tools are installed and used.

But getting involved with electric vehicle smart charging could be one of the most interesting applications for Hohm in the future. Because plug-in cars will consume so much electricity and will require so much intelligence to manage that load, they will help usher in important intelligence services for the smart grid. And by linking up with automakers like Ford or Nissan, there’s potential for tools like Hohm to closely integrate the vehicle – like an oversized electronic gadget or home appliance — with home energy use.

When Ford and Microsoft announced their plans for Hohm, Nancy Gioia, Ford’s director of global electrification, called for other car companies to “jump on through the Hohm interface as well,” or use a similar system. Among other things, said Gioia, Ford liked the open architecture of Hohm, and the potential for third parties to develop phone apps on the platform.

Microsoft is also looking for a wide range of partnerships in this space, with utilities, municipalities — and also multiple automakers. The energy industry is a strategic business area for Microsoft, which has in the past told us it plans to eventually charge utilities for services. Microsoft spokesperson Marja Koopmans told us in April that while consumers will own their energy data, Microsoft will aggregate data from Hohm customers and use that to refine and update its algorithm. So more EV drivers means more data, and potentially more value for utilities as they seek to manage the load of electric vehicles on their networks.

These deals are coming at a time when Internet rivalries are beginning to spill over into the new landscape of connected and electric cars. General Motors has moved to work with Google Android phones for a next-gen mobile app for the Chevy Volt, offering location-based services in addition to scheduling battery charge times (see video here). And both Ford and GM announced plans this summer to let drivers send Google Maps directions straight to vehicles equipped with Ford’s Sync and GM’s OnStar communication systems, and both automakers have previously announced a similar deal with AOL’s MapQuest.

Microsoft’s technology underlies not only Ford’s Sync, but also Fiat’s Blue&Me and Kia’s Uvo systems. But despite its status as a major supplier of embedded software for the auto industry, deals for in-car navigation systems have not emerged for Microsoft’s Bing Maps. Getting cozy with the high-profile LEAF, which is slated to have annual production capacity of up to 200,000 units in 2012, could be a nice coup for Microsoft and Hohm at this early stage in the electric car market.

Perry emphasized that the LEAF will have the first application of this type of telematics for the brand, but far from the last. “Telematics will be part of Nissan’s future models,” he said, then added that it’s too early to say whether they’ll run on a Microsoft platform.

Image courtesy of Nissan

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Ford today is accelerating the intelligence of SYNC, the Microsoft-powered communications platform that allows drivers to control the driving environment by voice. MyFord Touch, the latest generation of SYNC, raises the number of voice commands from 100 to 10,000 first-level commands. This wider range of speech recognition is the result of technology from Nuance, a Massachusetts-based company, and provides a more conversational experience for drivers.

That conversational tone is achieved in two ways: an improvement of the menu-based commands in SYNC and the use of aliases, which allow a driver to make the same request using different words. Instead of delving through multiple voice-command levels, for example, the new SYNC is capable of doing more with a single command. Previously a driver would have to say “Phone” to navigate through to the phone commands — now a driver can simply say “Call Liz Gannes,” which saves a step.

The use of aliases is probably the biggest reason for the hundred-fold increase in understood commands, however. By allowing a variance of voice commands for the same task, drivers don’t have to remember the specific commands to take a certain action. An excellent example of this is shown in the video demonstration by Ford Voice Recognition Engineer, Bridgitte Richardson, embedded below. To raise the climate temperate, Richardson uses three distinctly different — but very logical and conversational — commands: “warmer”, “increase temp”, and “temp up.”

While other companies are working to integrate voice and mobile technologies in vehicles — Research In Motion (s rimm) wants to power cars with BlackBerry devices, for example — Ford is embracing this vision with a passion. Why is that? Human interaction with smart devices has generally been stuck on the keyboard paradigm for years while voice input has lagged due to the processing power required. But as smaller chips gain intelligence, computers in cars can begin to interpret language and offer more hands-free functionality.

Indeed, our own GigaOM PRO analyst, Dr. Phil Hendrix, recently penned a 34-page report outlining how speech technologies will transform mobile use (subscription required). Dr. Hendrix believes that majority of smartphones will offer a fully voice-activated interface by 2012. If that prediction holds true, look for voice control to hit the gas pedal on cars at an increasing rate. And maybe by then the Ford SYNC program will answer that age-old question of “are we there yet?”

Khosla Ventures has previously invested in Troy, Mich.-based EcoMotors, and earlier this year Gates invested $20 million in the VC firm’s green technology fund, partly to get exposure to the “great entrepreneurs” that Khosla is backing, Gates told CNET in January. But an EcoMotors spokesperson told us this morning that Gates’ participation in EcoMotors Series B round did not come through the Khosla fund.

The spokesperson described this latest EcoMotors deal (which comes on the heels of Khosla Ventures, Gates and others investing $35 million in the traveling wave nuclear power startup TerraPower) as a three-way private transaction between Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates and EcoMotors.

EcoMotors is one of a slew of startups competing to deliver technology for more efficient, lower emission versions of the old internal combustion engine vehicle (see 7 Startups Building Green Car Tech for a Pre-Electric World). The company’s engine design includes stackable modules, one of which can be shut off when it isn’t needed. Focusing on developing markets, the company has been working to deliver a diesel engine by 2011 that can deliver 100 MPG for highway driving in a 5-passenger car.

This past spring EcoMotors struck a deal with automotive supplier Zhongding Holding (Group) Co. and engineering services firm Global Optima, with China-based Zhongding and its Michigan-based commercial partner Global Optima agreeing to invest up to $18 million to develop EcoMotors engines and work toward commercialization.

Eventually, the startup hopes to see its engines deployed in cars, light trucks, marine and agricultural applications, and in stationary generators — “essentially anywhere conventional gas or diesel power is utilized.”

EcoMotors and other venture-backed companies in this sector may have a tough climb to get their technology into the lineups of major automakers, however. John Viera, Director of Sustainable Business Strategies for Ford Motor told us recently, a technology that promises to deliver fuel savings of at least 1 MPG is “large enough to get our attention,” (EcoMotors says its so-called “opoc” engine can improve fuel efficiency by 50 percent), but the automaker rarely bets on an unproven supplier.

With software and apps built on the automaker’s Sync platform (developed by Microsoft) however, it’s a different ball game. According to Viera, “Software — that’s where you’ll see outsiders come in.”

Image courtesy of EcoMotors

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Nissan hybrid system

Nissan Motor’s road to a more fuel-efficient fleet will be paved with five technologies coming out this year. Today the automaker, whose electric LEAF sedan is slated to hit the U.S. market in December, popped the hood on five technologies set for deployment in the 2010 fiscal year, offering a glimpse of some of the oft-overlooked tools for reducing vehicle emissions long before electric cars go mainstream.

Nissan’s plans for this year call for the launch of a hybrid system with an electronically controlled clutch and a lithium-ion battery supplied by AESC (the automaker’s joint venture with NEC Corp.), which is scheduled to roll out in the Infiniti M toward the end of 2010. Nissan also plans to deploy a new 1.6-liter, 4-cylinder, turbocharged direct injection gas engine in the second half of this fiscal year, starting out in the Nissan Juke model.

In addition, Nissan says it has developed a pair of technologies for models rolling out this month in Japan, including the Nissan March (aka Micra) powertrain, which according to Nissan has a continuously variable transmission that’s 10 percent smaller and 13 percent lighter than previous designs. For the latest automatic transmission X-Trail model, meanwhile, the automaker has developed a “clean diesel” engine. Last month Nissan rolled out in Japan in the Juke model a 1.5-liter engine with dual injectors, which Nissan says will boost fuel economy by 4 percent compared to its conventional engines in the same class.

Nissan is readying to launch these technologies at a time when a growing number of startups hope to sell or license fuel-saving, emission-reducing tech to the world’s largest automakers. Achates Power, for example, is working on a high-efficiency two-stroke diesel engine that’s supposed to deliver higher power density and lower emissions than currently available options. Transonic Combustion is developing what’s called a supercritical fuel injection system, which involves heating fuel to a “supercritical” state before injecting it into the combustion chamber, allowing it to combust without the need for a spark. Transonic Combustion’s system is meant to minimize waste heat, and it uses proprietary software to adjust injection based on engine load.

Whether and how much car companies end up turning to young ventures for this tech remains to be seen, but startups face long odds to beat out established suppliers and automakers’ internal development programs when it comes to these types of systems and components.

As John Viera, Director of Sustainable Business Strategies for Ford Motor told me in an interview recently, a technology that promises to deliver fuel savings of at least 1 MPG is “large enough to get our attention,” but it will be a rare case when the automaker bets on an unproven supplier. With software and apps built on the automaker’s Sync platform (developed by Microsoft) however, it’s a different ball game. According to Viera, “Software — that’s where you’ll see outsiders come in.”

Image courtesy of Nissan Motor Co.

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To wed a smartphone with a car, Ford developed Sync AppLink, a downloadable software upgrade for its in-vehicle computing platform that will first appear in the 2011 Fiesta model. Sync AppLink will extend smartphone application control via voice recognition, allowing consumers to use supported software on their smartphones in hands-free mode through the Sync system. In order to entice developers to implement functionality that supports Sync AppLink, Ford is creating a new mobile application developer network.

Ford, after all, needs developers — and the mobile software they create — more than developers need Ford. The app economy is thriving in the smartphone space — Apple’s App Store generates more than $250 million per month, 70 percent of which goes to developers. So Ford will make it easy for developers to “Sync-enable” an application by offering an API that connects a software title with the hands-free control functionality already offered by the Sync platform. And since the feature is a “value-add,” developers can justifiably charge more for a Sync-compatible application.

The Sync platform is a partnership between Ford and Microsoft, yet ironically, the first phones to support Sync AppLink won’t be running Microsoft’s smartphone platform. Instead, Ford chose to target Google’s Android and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry handsets; applications that can use the Sync system will appear in their respective app stores. Ford will also offer its own Sync apps for these handsets, such as those for traffic or navigation, and will leverage pre-installed smartphone applications — the popular Pandora music-streaming title, for example.

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To hear more about Ford’s efforts to connect cars and mobile phones, come to Green:Net on April 29 in San Francisco and hear from Edward Pleet, who heads up the company’s product and business development connected services division.

Image courtesy of Ford

To start, Ford plans to offer a software upgrade option to buyers of the 2011 Fiesta model that offer apps that are compatible with the BlackBerry and Google Android platforms. Next year, after that initial launch, Ford says it will extend interoperability to the iPhone and other smartphones, and offer the upgrade for all vehicles equipped with Sync.

What Ford has dubbed its developer network (which is supposed to be accessible Tuesday through the SYNCmyride web site) seems to be primarily a channel for submitting app ideas and signing up for info on the Sync application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK).

Ford has kept a fairly tight grip on Sync-enabled apps so far. The automaker said in its announcement today that it’s still working with “trusted partners” to complete “beta-testing” of the SDK. Ford first announced Pandora, OpenBeak and Stitcher as its “trusted partners” to develop demonstrations of apps hooking up to vehicle controls via the Sync platform back in January, at the Consumer Electronics Show.

So how does all of this fit into a slog toward a more efficient, lower-emission transportation sector? If cars function more like smartphones, with a web connection and an open platform on which developers can build applications, it opens the possibility for a wide and deep pool of services helping drivers better manage their use of fuel, and down the road, their battery charge. Already, Ford has tapped Microsoft’s home energy management tool Hohm to enable smart charging for upcoming electric vehicles.

Mobile apps hardly represent a must-have service for every EV driver (how many smartphone owners did you know back when General Motors’ EV-1 rolled out?), and in the early days of a technology that will struggle to compete on price with conventional vehicles, gizmos and gadgets could potentially add unnecessary cost. But they could also offer a set of tools for drivers to manage data — about topography, traffic, battery status, vehicle health, infrastructure availability, driving behavior — in a way that helps make the nascent world of electric mobility a little easier to navigate. (For more on this, see Green Cars Are the Platform, Now Come the Applications.)

According to Oliver Hazimeh of PRTM Management Consultants, who directs the firm’s North America automotive segment and clean mobility initiative, a handful of key variables are likely to drive an app’s “stickiness” in the EV market after the initial cool factor of smart phones and vehicle connectivity wears off. Hazimeh suggested in an interview (GigaOM Pro, sub. req’d) last year that some of the most successful apps for the upcoming generation of plug-in vehicles will likely be super fast, offer services needed outside the vehicle (such as charge point reservations), feature an ultra simple interface optimized for voice controls, and integrate with vehicle communication systems (such as Sync, or GM’s OnStar) as seamlessly as they do with your home or work computing platform.

Ford, however, isn’t about to take a chance on the hypermiler types or early EV adopters in the app marketplace. Rather, Ford director of connected services Doug VanDagens told us earlier this year that after the three initial partners, applications designed for broader consumer appeal (VanDagens mentioned stock and movie listings or horoscopes) are next in line. VanDagens explained (GigaOM Pro), “We won’t make it available for millions of [developers] out of the gate.”

Panelists will be digging into these topics at our Green:Net conference on April 29 in San Francisco, including: Ford’s Ed Pleet, Product and Business Development Connected Services; GM’s Paul Pebbles, OnStar Chevy Volt Service Line Manager; and Troy Batterberry, Product Unit Manager for Microsoft Hohm.

Images courtesy of Ford Motor

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