SAN FRANCISCO — When Bill Gates joined Ford Motor Co.'s top executives at the Detroit auto show to usher in the new year, it was pretty clear that technology would take an even more prominent role behind the wheel.

In the late 1990s, the first interior video screens, which played VHS tapes, brought the wow factor to family car shoppers everywhere. Less than 10 years later, cars park themselves, show real-time traffic on their displays and play two different DVD movies at the same time.

Consumers are putting more and more emphasis on the bells and whistles that adorn their new-car purchase. And with a proliferation of new models entering the fiercely competitive marketplace, it's more important now than ever for carmakers to differentiate themselves.

"When executed, these emerging technologies can practically sell the car themselves," said CarsDirect.com analyst Mark McCready. "They become the 'must-have' that brings the customer into the showroom."

Ford, suffering through a stale lineup and waning demand, knows this all too well and made a "bold move" to push the envelope with its Sync system.

The company plans to introduce the system in a dozen Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles later this year. Drivers, thanks to Microsoft technology, will be able to dial numbers from their mobile phones and access and play music from their digital music players using voice commands or steering-wheel controls.

"There are still plenty of high-tech bridges that haven't been crossed," said Edmunds.com analyst Brian Moody. "Sync is the first real step in bridging those gaps."

Hughes Telematics and DaimlerChrysler also announced a deal to integrate a similar system into the German-American car giant's lineup, complete with high-speed Internet access.

Aside from the whiz-bang tech behind the telematics push, automakers have upped their efforts in terms of internal entertainment.

For instance, along with premium audio brands Blaupunkt and satellite radio Sirius and XM showing up as standard equipment on some less-than-luxury vehicles, hard drives capable of storing thousands of songs and pictures are becoming increasingly common.

MyGig from Chrysler, for example, is a 20-gigabyte hard drive that can store several photos for use as background and screensavers as well as about 1,600 songs. Those nifty features come bundled with a memory-heavy navigation system that also updates drivers on real-time traffic.

MyGig will be available on the 2007 Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Nitro and Jeep Wrangler later this year.

Audio files can be saved to the drive and MP3 players can be plugged into the jack, but copyright infringement concerns won't allow for iPod songs to be transferred.

On the topic of iPods, Apple is making a push to integrate the ubiquitous device into nearly three-fourths of the new cars on the market in 2007. BMW brought iPods into its cars about two years ago, and now the rest of the automakers are falling in line.

If a car doesn't come equipped with iPod-friendly setups, consumers in many cases can get them for less than $200 plus installation.

Chrysler's 2008 minivans, along with having two separate video screens capable of playing different DVDs, will expand on its popular Stow 'n Go seating system with Swivel 'n Go. Now the second row car seats can be rotated to face the rear, which, along with a removable table in between the second and third rows, will give it a mobile home feel.

"It's amazing how far the technology has come in the past decade, and it's really just getting started," Moody said.

MyGig from Chrysler is a 20-gigabyte hard drive that can store several photos for use as background and screensavers as well as 1,600 songs.