August 01, 2014
Wayne Cunningham

At what it bills as the auto industry's first app developer conference, Ford will sponsor a hackathon for its Sync AppLink platform. In a unique twist, the city of Los Angeles has gathered data sets for the developers covering statistics such as airport traffic, collisions, and crime. Ford's developer conference is part of the Connected Car Expo at CTIA's Super Mobility Week running from September 8 to 11 in Las Vegas.

The Sync AppLink platform integrates apps running on a phone with car controls such as voice command and hard buttons on the dashboard. Currently, Sync AppLink supports over 30 apps, from NPR to Rhapsody to the Wall Street Journal.

The conference will educate and encourage developers to add Sync AppLink compatibility to their existing apps, or build completely new apps.

Source
CNET