Ford SYNC 3 now boasts Chinese handwriting recognition.

Engineers from Ford’s Research and Engineering Centre in Nanjing have helped the Mustang, Focus, Taurus, Edge and other Ford vehicles master the written Chinese language. With SYNC 3, the Ford vehicles can understand handwritten Chinese characters inputted with a swipe of the finger.

In addition, with enhanced voice recognition technology, SYNC 3 also recognizes voice commands in Mandarin Chinese.

“The Chinese version of SYNC 3 is far more than just a translation of a global technology,” said Fisher Xu, SYNC Supervisor for Ford Asia Pacific. “It’s really been localized to respond to a Chinese driver’s needs with a local point of view, from the voice commands that understand our accents and our habits, to the way we structure our statements.”

“For instance, when you talk to a friend in China and they ask where you are, they’re really looking for a building name or a point of interest, not a street number. That’s probably different to other parts of the world, and SYNC 3 is smart enough to know this local preference, seamlessly.”