Mark Tisshaw has seen the future and, he reports from CES, you better brace yourself for what’s to come
The CES experience begins as soon as you tick the box on the registration form indicating what you’re interested in at the show. ‘Vehicles’, of course. Then the emails start.
By the time I’d sat down for the first press conference on Tuesday 9 January (one about flying cars, naturally), I’d counted 437 invitations from various PRs to demonstrations and meetings with companies big and small. Each wanted to show off their next big thing in the vehicle technology world, typically involving the likes of smart sensors, radars, motion detectors, interior screens (or alternatively projections) and – the buzzword of the moment – generative artificial intelligence (AI). Remarkably, two such invites even arrived on Christmas Day.
Some gatecrashers from other sectors also announced offers such as free headphones in exchange for a product review. I’d never do such a thing, and it’s merely coincidence that I’m enjoying the sound quality of these wireless earbuds from the latest Taiwanese challenger audio brand while writing this. They’re available for just £9.99 when you use the code BLAGGEDHEADPHONES.
The Consumer Electronics Show, now officially CES (the tech industry loves acronyms and initialisms), takes over seemingly the entirety of Las Vegas – not just the 3.2 million square feet of the Las Vegas Convention Centre but many of the conference centres at the big hotels on the strip too. If you’ve ever been to the old Frankfurt motor show (the original massive motor show), this feels about five or six times as big.
At its core, CES remains a technology show, where the likes of Google, Sony, Amazon, Panasonic and Microsoft exhibit their latest hardware and software, but a few years ago the car makers got involved, and the event has evolved into an innovation showcase for lots of different sectors.
In automotive circles, one industry executive described it as the place to present ideas for vehicles and technologies from a more distant future than the latest new metal you will find at a traditional motor show.
But it’s more than that. It’s a place where the reveal of a car isn’t enough: you have to build a whole story and ecosystem around it.
Take Kia, which at its core launched a concept version of a new 4.7-metre-long van that will make production next year as the fast-growing brand’s latest extension into commercial vehicles. Yet from watchin
