Thumbnail image for Mullaly at D8.jpgAt the D8 conference on Thursday, Ford Motor Company chief executive Alan Mulally spoke about how computing power is coming to cars, how Ford wants to enable consumer electronics but wants to focus on vehicles instead, and how it wants to lead in electric cars.

Mulally said he sees some drivers play with their devices and do dangerous things like texting while driving. The best thing Ford could do for the consumer is to manage the user interface, he said, so that drivers can keep "their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road."

To do this, the company developed its "Sync" system in conjunction with Microsoft, plus the "MyFord Touch," its touchscreen method for controlling automotive features, replacing the traditional console displays.

While the system does some speech recognition now, Mulally said the company is waiting to do more until the technology improves: He doesn't want technology that might give wrong results and confuse drivers.

One difference in Ford's approach compared with many of the other car makers was that it isn't trying to provide all the solutions, but instead works with end users' own phones and music players By having an open architecture and APIs, Sync can support more applications, such as Pandora. Ford needs to work with the developers, though, to make sure the applications didn't interfere with the driving experience.

Mulally mentioned that Ford isn't that concerned about building a business model to sell services; instead, the company is laser-focused on building great vehicles. Car technology is changing, and Mulally is particularly bullish on electric cars. He believes that batteries are a challenge, as they need to get lighter while storing more energy, but the infrastructure is an even bigger issue. He mentioned the need for recharging stations in many more places (especially with a need to use 220V or more to make charging faster) and for a smart grid that would enable different pricing at different times.

Mulally wouldn't give a date when he thought most cars would be electric, but said he expected Ford will be a leader in getting there.

He also spoke about other technology, such as back-up cameras, sensors that detect cars in other lanes, and that look for cross traffic when you are backing out of a parking space. Ford is focused in bringing this technology to a mass market.

Regarding the bailouts of GM and Chrysler, Mulally testified in favor of them, because if those companies had gone into bankruptcy , they would have taken the supply chain with them and perhaps turned the recession into a depression. But he did say he envisioned that it would be a short-term fix, not that the government would own those businesses going forward.

Finally, Mulally spoke about focusing on the Ford brand (divesting other brands Ford owned, phasing out Mercury, and re-emphasizing Lincoln), and noted that he was not only driving Ford cars but his competitors as well to benchmark against them.

Originally posted to Michael Miller's blog, Forward Thinking.