Ford Motor and AccuWeather are joining forces to let Ford vehicle drivers plan and time trips around weather conditions, enabling AccuWeather?s smartphone app to work with Ford?s AppLink connected car technology.

Ford owners can use the integration of AccuWeather for Ford Sync AppLink to obtain minute-by-minute, hyper-localized weather forecasts to a driver?s exact street address for up to two hours. It is the latest example of Ford?s leadership in connected car technology, part of its outreach to technology-savvy millennial buyers.

?Our focus is on integrating the apps and content that our customers love, to provide a seamless in-car experience through AppLink, which leverages the driver?s smartphone connection and capabilities,? said Alan Hall, technology communications manager at Ford, Dearborn, MI.

The GPS-aided digital weather technology also provides information about precipitation type, intensity and duration to the driver.

By selecting MinuteCast on the vehicle display menu, the driver will see a static image of the weather condition he or she will face, and the time at which the precipitation is expected to arrive on the route. An audio warning will also be delivered. 

The technology will be demonstrated at the 2015 International CES, the largest consumer electronics show, Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas.

?Connected-car? interest is growing quickly among automakers and brands. A Nielsen report early this year found that about one in five drivers aware of connected cars is already driving one of them ? and that number is expected to swell as automakers continue to introduce the new tech into more and more models.

Offering in-vehicle hyper-local weather forecasts is part of Ford?s focus on marketing vehicles not just as transportation but as a technology experience to attract millennial buyers.

Among the trends Ford expects to influence consumers and brands in 2015 and beyond is buyers desiring not to be left behind with a product that has become outdated or obsolete, according to Ford?s annual trends report, released this week. 

AppLink is the next generation of Ford?s seven-year-old Sync in-vehicle communications and entertainment system. It allows users to make hands-free telephone calls, control music and perform other functions with the use of voice commands.

The technology provides for the seamless command and control of smartphone apps through voice recognition ? providing a more convenient way for buyers to use the apps they love inside the car.

?This Ford implementation trumps the Weather Channel implementation offered by GM in MyLink,? said Roger Lanctot, associate director for global automotive practice with Strategy Analytics, Newton, MA.

?By using the connected smartphone, the AccuWeather app can deliver highly localized weather forecasts.?

However, both General Motors? and Ford?s systems lack the ability to upload sensor data from cars which might influence the forecast with crowd-sourced inputs ? in essence, Waze for Weather. The first step is to establish the connection with the car.  

?I expect both Ford and GM are working on crowd-sourcing micro-weather data inputs from their mobile systems,? Mr. Lanctot said.  

?Weather is the second or third most important application in the car, based on Strategy Analytics? consumer surveys conducted around the world, following traffic and navigation.?