CES 2019 : A Glimpse into the future
Updated: Feb 2, 2019
Well, we all know that the CES has become more of a ‘mobility’ show over the past few years than a Consumer Electronics Show. Vehicles OEM’s, technology providers, mobility service providers all come to showcase their technologies, services and experiences. Internet companies too are into ‘mobility’ in big way. Hence CES has become a ‘big show’ for all those in the ‘mobility’ space. I know a lot of people who would give North American International Auto Show and Geneva Motor Show a miss but would not miss the CES!
So what is it that CES 2019 had to offer to all those who are interested in new mobility?
The car manufacturers and the Uber’s and the Intel’s, the Google’s and the Nvidia’s are aware of the revolutions that the industry is undergoing and are all plunging in to seize what they can lay their hands on. This will shake up the industry and some will be a bit of ‘more winners’ than the ‘rest’ as this progresses.
Now, we can see that those who participated in CES 2019 in the mobility domain were not showcasing cars. They were showcasing experiences and what is it that car can do other than taking you from point A to point B. And, all these years we all thought that’s what cars are meant to do! Well, it seems it is not so anymore!
Let us take infotainment for example. Infotainment is big business! Google came up with their Android Automotive Infotainment System. The OEM’s want their own. Volvo has come up with PoleStar 2. Audi is working on back seat ride experience and demonstrated their latest virtual-reality platform developed by Audi Electronics Ventures. Their new start-up Holoride will commercialize the technology via an open platform that lets other parties create content for it. The chance of motion sickness is controlled by coordinating the visual experiences with the car's motions.
Toyota and Byton is coming up with their own infotainment solutions. Bosch, Mercedes Benz and BMW are all into into.
Edge computing is important for connected cars to allow safer driving, smoother traffic flow and optimising of energy consumption, which ultimately will result in food driving experience. All those ‘mobility services’ which are available today and will be available tomorrow will be need to handle huge amounts of data. So Denso’s Edge computing at CES was particularly noteworthy and relevant, for driving the network and computing infrastructure needs of automotive big data.
Toyota show-cased their Guardian safety software to improve crash safety by avoiding crash by vehicle awareness and artificial-intelligence software. It continuously monitors the vehicle and its surroundings and steps in to take action if it senses the car is in danger or the driver is asking it to do something that could lead to a crash
Solutions for secure networks, security tools, protection from cyber-attacks, and privacy are serious concerns with cars getting connected and increasingly ‘assisted’. Blackberry and Denso showcased solutions to address these concerns.
Alexa, Google Assistant, Baidu DuerOS, Harman trying to integrate all these, the Voice Personal Assistant space in the car is getting heated up. I own an Alexa and a Google Home, and have started enjoying them both! Looks like VPA’s are already ubiquitous!
As someone said said, a car is not about the car anymore; it is what you can do while you are in it is what counts. In care purchases, reservation of third party products and services and Features as a Service (FaaS) is what is coming up it seems. FaaS is allowing the user to purchase features after buying the car.
OK! Let us admit it EV’s are here to stay. (The naysayers have secretly and some even publicly started saying aye!). Technologies to improve range and reduce charging time are relevant and required. Mercedes, Audi, Porsche all have made their intention of going electric public. And oh, 250miles range is hygiene!
Charging Infra technology and development is vital for EV’s to ring in EV adoption. Many hardware and software providers are associating themselves with OEM’s
For EV’s to take off innovations in charging infra is the most basic requirement. Hardware and software providers are forming no partnerships with OEM’s coming up with different approaches to give user access to charging. Integration with Home Energy Management Systems and taking advantage of off- peak rates are areas
Waymo CEO John Krafcik recently said that Level 5 autonomy, in which a car can drive itself anywhere under any conditions, might never be achievable in some types of bad weather. Many seem to have realised this and there has been a focus on more accurate and lower-cost sensor technologies and the use of artificial intelligence to provide greater safety benefits through greater deployment of assistive technologies.
Baidu announced their open source self driving platform Apollo 3.5 can manage "unprotected turns, speed bumps, clear zones, side passes, narrow lanes, and autonomous parking."
To summarise, a lot is happening in the mobility space and many new players are coming up with their solutions to the new challenges that are presenting and the coming years. We are all in for an exciting ride. Let us sit back, fasten our seatbelts and enjoy every bit of it as all this new solutions and technologies bring in a new mobility world at the same time make our planet a better place to be.
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