One cool customer - Ford's best talking head

By Sandy Pfaff, GreenPepper

With all of the chaos in Detroit and the lack of clarity from the Big Three on just about everything, from their bail out funding plans - first they were united and now they're divided -  to just how they plan to get to the next meeting in D.C. so they can avoid a second PR nightmare, I experienced a glimmer of hope for at least one of these behemoths at the San Francisco Auto Show last week.

I went expecting to be dazzled by Tesla and other high flying innovators; I hoped to be wowed by the green energy revolution with electric, hybrid and fuel cell technologies.  I expected to find my next car, or at least a cup of coffee while I strolled the aisles.

On all counts, I was sorely disappointed.  But there was one  memorable, hopeful and really cool moment.  And the company with the courage to deliver that kind of cool moment was Ford. 

There among the wall of trucks and cars in the Ford convention space was a talking lifesize robot.  Emblazoned with a Ford logo on his belly, he was akin to C-3PO from Star Wars having a natural conversation with bystanders in the booth.  He danced; he talked; he told us about Ford cars when asked; he remembered names like Colby when introduced to someone in the crowd and he even remarked to the man in a cheeky kind of robot way: "Colby, like the cheese.  Nice."

Every time I tried to move on from their "booth" he kept me interested with more funny conversation and cool moves, and the crowd grew bit by bit.  Whether any of those people went home that night remembering it was Ford's robot, is a question.  What I do know is that that guy held my attention and has kept me talking excitedly about Ford ever since.  If they can use that kind of innovative technology for a robot, I've got renewed optimism that they might be able to do the same for a car.  And if I were them, I'd bring him to Washington D.C. as their talking head.

Alas, there may just be hope for the U.S. auto industry yet, or at least one key player, who I'm rooting for a whole lot more now than I was two weeks ago.

Comments

[Matt]

Interesting you mention the robot, Sandy. At last night's PRSA Media Predicts event a few of the journalists commented on Microsoft's current R&D in robots - they see it as the next big wave of innovation in tech coming out of the U.S.