Knight Rider, MD: Ford introduces car with health tools

Physicians are accustomed to dealing with patients armed with information from the Web, but now they might have to contend with opinions from another source: patients' cars.

At January's Consumer Electronics show, Ford unveiled the "car that cares." It announced that Healthrageous, a developer of online and mobile apps for the self-management of chronic diseases and preventive health activities, will embed "digital coach" technology into Sync, its onboard entertainment system. Drivers can upload data from Healthrageous coaching and other compatible medical devices and apps to Microsoft's HealthVault personal health records platform or to the Windows Azure Cloud.

A Ford spokesman said all functions would be voice activated so as not to distract drivers. He added that Sync would not diagnose conditions.