‘Wake Me App’ wins Ford’s Sync AppLink Developer Challenge in Tel Aviv

Ford selected ‘Wake Me App’, an app that monitors drivers for signs of drowsiness, as the winner of the Ford SYNC AppLink Developer Challenge in Tel Aviv. The 24-hour hackathon (October 11-12), included more than 150 app developers with the winning app chosen by a panel of judges representing Ford’s technology development team, venture capital and even auto racing.

“Tel Aviv has an amazing base of tech developers, and the talent and creativity we saw from the participating teams has been remarkable,” said Scott Lyons, business    and partner development, Connected Vehicle and Services, Ford of Europe.  “Wake Me App stood out because of its innovative use of the new SYNC AppLink developer tools that leverage vehicle information to create dynamic apps in the car.”

Wake Me App monitors drivers for signs of drowsiness in specific stages, and issues escalating alerts accordingly.  Developers Pavel Kaminsky and Shay Mishali leveraged the latest set of AppLink application programming interfaces and the new capabilities of SYNC 3 to create the app.

At signs of driver drowsiness, the App performs an escalating-level of alerts to make the driver aware of his/her condition, including audible chimes, changing the radio volume, and even automated SMS messages and phone calls to the driver’s contact list.

Other winning apps included Red Alert (second place), an app which alerts drivers in Israel to a potential national security threat, and Karpoolz (third place), a multi-family carpooling app for parents to manage their kids’ afterschool and social activities.  One app received an honorable mention, Green Light, which gives a countdown to upcoming traffic signals.

Ford challenged developers to create original apps leveraging the features of all-new AppLink and SYNC 3, including the system’s capacitive touch screen, improved voice recognition and image display capabilities to enhance the in-car experience for customers.