Microsoft may soon direct you to the nearest cheapest gas station with 3D maps in your car! Ford and Microsoft will jointly announce Sync, an in-car navigation and infotainment system built on Microsoft’s platform at the Detroit Motor show this month.

Sync is designed to let drivers navigate better, download and listen to music, talk by cell phone, and even get e-mail without using their hands, according to reports. Powered by Bluetooth — the same technology that powers wireless cell phone headsets — Sync will debut in two Ford models, the Focus and Five Hundred series, in 2007, then expand to all Ford models in the 2008 model year.

With laws cropping up in many states to limit use of cell phones in cars this news will not be music to all. But automakers are incorporating latest gadgets into their design to stay ahead and so has Ford. Along with BMW, Volvo, and others who put input jacks for iPods into certain 2007 models, including the Edge SUV.