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54 February 2019 | AutoData EVENTS » CES AND DETROIT AUTO SHOW their application is strictly local, above or below the equatorial line. Ford has tried to use a more univer- sal language to illuminate the path it has chosen for its autonomous vehicles, which arrive in the North region already in 2021. Sherif Marakby, the big boss, CEO, of Ford Autonomous Vehicles, and AmyMarentic, its global marketing director , said that their work object, the self-driving cars, are still very expensive vehicles basically because of their “extremely heavy software”. They are in practical tests in Miami, FL, and will be taken to Washington, DC, next year. Tests on the East Coast are already in pha- se 4, without a driver. “When we eliminated the driver it me- ant putting things in a very different level of design, service, how you project the vehicle and the whole service with call centers, apps and similar things. Because it is the provision of shared mobilitywithout a driver, and this is the challengewe have, planning a service focused on the consu- mers, the customers and no longer the driver, to transport them and their goods.” Marakby considers the collaboration of the cities in the creation of the necessary infrastructure for autonomous vehicles existence as fundamental. And it’s part of his job to find out what the passengerswish to dowith their free time inside a car in the future. A self-driving car, of course. And that he seeks, as has happened with the aeronautics industry, the redundancies that exist in steering, braking and acceleration. He recognized that technologies invol- ving autonomous vehicles emerge faster than the infrastructure in cities, such as the C-V2X, “communication system of the vehicle-with-everythingvia smartphone”, in which Ford has Qualcomm as a partner. It will be used by Ford in all its new vehicles from2022. The companydescribes the sys- temas “a highlyadvancedwireless commu- nication technology that allows vehicles to ‘listen and talk’ to each other, pedestrians and transit infrastructure to transmit safety information and create a smart and con- nected transportation system”. It was planned, the C-V2X, to use the 5G mobile network. “Crossing intersections, for example, will be much easier”, said Don Butler, exe- cutive director of Ford’s connected vehi- cles. “The vehicles will communicate to negotiate which one has the preference.” Thosewho followFord’s lifemore close- ly say that the TeamEdison has everything to become amyth in the company’s history. One of its leaders is Darren Palmer, global director of product development for electric vehicles. Speaking to reporters, he said that the biggest challenge is still batteries with autonomy beyond 480 kilometers, the 300 miles - a lot less than those sung by Peter, Paul & Mary in the 60s. When that battery arrives, Palmer believes, the consumerwill consider that, “now, the electric car has become viable for your life”. The metaphor, as we feel it, remains open, in search for amore perfect definition than those engendered at nightfalls. But that the combination of Las Vegas with the intelligence built into the CES themes is explosive, yes, it is. Something from that doctor, Faust, who, some people say, inha- bited Goethe. LOOKS LIKE VEGAS BUT IT’S DETROIT Contraption used by journalists during a presentation at Detroit Auto Show: if all the devices had worked, it would have been a lot better.