Garmin will develop cloud-based mapping for the Blue Oval.
Ford is working on the next generation of its SYNC infotainment system (SYNC 4), which will run on the Mustang Mach-E’s massive 15.5-inch central display (and probably display some information on the 10.2-inch digital gauge cluster). The navigation side of things will be taken care of by Garmin, one of the world leaders in satellite navigation technology.
The big news here is that the maps will be cloud-based, but the system will still work in areas with no reception. We don’t know what the exact features are, but since it’s cloud-based, we can speculate that it will have live traffic information and that it will calculate the route for maximum efficiency (and based on the EV’s remaining range).
The official press release says one of the nav system’s unique features will be EV-specific routing, which we presume has to do with charging station locations and guiding the vehicle to the nearest one when it’s low on electricity. By including an advanced and thoroughly usable nav system, Ford aims to convince Mach-E drivers to not use smartphone-based services, even though the vehicle will come with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.