Ford announced it purchased Livio , which until recently made aftermarket Internet Radio devices.
Livio, considered a startup company out of Ferndale, MI, recently turned its attention to in-car connectivity software.
Ford said Thursday it will buy Livio to help it create an industry standard for connecting car radios to smartphones.
In January, at CES 2013, Livio announced it was phasing out its Internet Radio car devices, which were sold through outlets including Crutchfield, Hammacher Schlemmer, and Amazon.
The products included the Grooveshark Car Kit by Livio Radio.
It then began focusing on back-end app software for cars. Its software is used in the Chevy Spark and its Livio Connect platform won a Frost & Sullivan award. The platform makes it easy for FM radio broadcasters to use 2-way communication with its listeners over a Bluetooth smartphone connection.
“At Livio, our philosophy is centered on bringing customers more connectivity with less hassle,” said Livio CEO Jake Sigal. “We believe this partnership is an excellent match, as it will give us the ability to work with Ford to provide customers even more access to new technologies in the vehicle infotainment space.”
Livio was co-founded by Sigal and Massimo Baldini and becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Global Technologies, which manages all aspects of intellectual property for Ford. Livio will function as a separate department within Ford Electrical/Electronic Systems Engineering.
By 2015, Ford will have more than 14 million vehicles on the road worldwide equipped with its voice activated Sync radio system and 7 million with Sync AppLink.
The company says its customers choose the Sync and MyFord Touch on nearly 80 percent of 2013 Ford vehicles.
Source: Ford
Update: for a great story on the Livio purchase see TechCrunch here
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