"It was the night after New Year's Eve.
Through all technology,
nobody was sleeping,
Not even executives.
The new year marks the tech industry's annual trip to Las Vegas for CES, marked by countless meetings, demonstrations everywhere, numb crowds everywhere, sore feet and cold-filled days. Regular trekking. Despite all this, CES is much more than just a consumer electronics show. CES represents all facets of technology and is the starting point for many new technologies and companies.
Despite some of the pessimism surrounding the tech industry heading into 2023, there's still a lot of hope to be gleaned from this CES. For one, CES has become the premier automotive technology showcase. As a result, Tirias Research expects announcements from a variety of vendors across infotainment, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicle (AV) systems, and new electric vehicle (EV) platforms. We know Ambarella, Mobileye, Nvidia, and Qualcomm will all be in attendance to demonstrate their latest technology. In fact, almost half of the press conferences at CES are typically about automotive and transportation tech and platforms.
Another area that continues to surprise us at CES is heavy equipment. John Deere has become a staple of the event. John Deere, as CEO John May has said in many ways, is a technology company. In fact, John Deere has been selling self-driving tractors for about 20 years and is now adding his AI to its attachments. The auto industry could learn a thing or two from a heavy equipment manufacturer like John Deere. Last year Bobcat introduced his all-electric T7X compact track loader. Hyundai Heavy Industries Group will host a press conference this year, which could be interesting given the company's investments in AI, robotics, EVs and even hydrogen vehicles. Another heavy equipment supplier, Caterpillar, will also follow John Deere at his CES.
With the rapid adoption of AI and robotics, industrial automation is also increasing its presence at CES. Everything from production and material management robots to agricultural technology (Agtech) will be on display. Health and medicine are also important areas. Exhibits range from operating room equipment to home equipment and fitness monitoring equipment.
There's also an endless stream of startups at nightly media events and at the CES startup center called Eureka Park in the Venetian Conference Center. Startups are my favorite part of CES. New products in development don't surprise us, especially with ever-evolving processing/AI, connectivity, robotics, and sensing technologies. If you can imagine it, you can make it.
And yes, we can't wait to see the sea of new consumer products showcased at CES – PCs, TVs, displays, Wi-Fi routers, microphones, audio systems, earphones and headphones, drones, 3D printers, AR and VR headsets and all accessories that come with them. AMD CEO Lisa Su is set to give her opening keynote at CES, so we're hoping to at least get some info on her new AMD PC offerings.
The only consumer segment not seeing a major presence is the next wave of smartphones. This is because most vendors put their announcements on hold until his MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona in late February. However, there may still be announcements regarding cellular technology.
In these conditions, no matter how fast you walk or talk at CES, it's impossible to see everything. Trust me, I tried. But the annual trek to CES is worth it. A colleague and I brave yet another her CES.