Ford's 2015 CES keynote | CNET

Ford's 2015 CES keynote

Ford's new CEO Mark Fields will take to the stage and tell us what's next for the Blue Oval.

  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 4:48:02 PM
    Remember this isn't just a Ford press conference, it's the kickoff of CES 2015, so of course the CEA is going to toot its own horn for a little while.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 4:48:06 PM
    And, you know, try to sell a book or three.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 4:49:08 PM
    We're hearing about more advanced predictions based on the Internet of Things, knowing if it's dark and cold and you're being lazy, so recommending more depressing movies, for example.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 4:49:14 PM
    Which is, in and of itself, somewhat depressing.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 4:49:40 PM
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:22:44 PM
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:23:13 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:23:26 PM
    "We're broadening in the car sharing experiment in India as well." The service is called Share-Car, and its basically short-term car rentals, as are relatively commonplace in the US.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:23:38 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:23:48 PM
    Fields says they're also testing fast-speed DC chargers, and are working with fast-food restaurants to deploy these charging stations.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:24:05 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:24:08 PM
    Raj Nair is now talking about data-driven health care.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:24:21 PM
    "If you lived in West Africa, [health care] is much more difficult."
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:25:00 PM
    Unpaved roads and lack of transportation makes it difficult. Ford is partnering with Riders for Health, and is adding OpenXC to trucks to map the road networks, enabling navigation where there aren't defined routes.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:25:30 PM
    There's a Parking Spotter experiment, which scans and spots for open parking spots, which would then be exposed for others to utilize.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:25:36 PM
    Wow, one person is really, really excited about that.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:25:46 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:26:07 PM
    Another experiment, Painless Parking, which makes it easier to find parking in London.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:26:08 PM
  • Antuan Goodwin 1/6/2015 5:26:18 PM
    At least one person is VERY excited about how Ford's data collection will help find parking.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:26:24 PM
    Basically, Ford is doing a lot of stuff involving cars and technology in various places. Deal with it.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:26:57 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:27:12 PM
    "We don't anticipate that any one of these experiments are going to provide a single solution." Fields hopes that the net information learned helps to identify a way forward.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:27:15 PM
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:27:47 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:27:51 PM
    And, there's the Innovate Mobility World Challenges, which is asking developers to help build out the OpenXC platform.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:28:21 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:28:26 PM
    Developers can submit their apps that "deal with mobility challenges"
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:29:03 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:29:14 PM
    fordsvl.com is the place to go. And yes, there are prizes!
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:29:28 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:29:29 PM
    Fields: "We received some absolutely brilliant submissions, and we're going to highlight 11 of them today."
  • Antuan Goodwin 1/6/2015 5:30:09 PM
    Automakers are really embracing the app development contests. I see dozens of hackathon or app challenges yearly.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:30:14 PM
    Ken Washington is on the stage, who runs Ford's R&D center in Silicon Valley.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:30:37 PM
    The first app we're going to look at is Parking Lot 2.0.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:31:01 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:31:07 PM
    It's an app that lets drivers make "painless mobility payments" and get notifications when their meter is almost expired.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:31:17 PM
    Scratch that, the app is called "Crowd Park."
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:31:24 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:31:49 PM
    Lot owners can raise prices based on demand, which sounds a little Uber-like.
  • James Martin 1/6/2015 5:31:57 PM
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:32:04 PM
    People can actually take pictures of people who are illegally parked, and get a little reward themselves.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:32:06 PM
    Interesting...
  • Antuan Goodwin 1/6/2015 5:32:24 PM
    @TimStevens: VERY Uber-like.
  • Tim Stevens 1/6/2015 5:32:29 PM
    Next up, moving to Argentina, and alleviating congestion. The concept is called the Urban Shuttle.
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