Every year CES takes a natural focus towards a certain technology or industry and this year was no different. If last year was the year of VR, and the year prior was all about IOT – CES 2017 will be remembered as the year of the auto. While CES has forever featured automotive in the North Hall, it’s only this year that you see concept cars in every major booth and tech companies asking to be positioned near the big automotive manufacturers. The most telling was seeing Nvidia, traditionally known for their graphics cards, sitting side by side with Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and others, to show off their new automotive graphics board. Literally, everywhere you turned you were hearing about the new autonomous vehicles, or heads-up smart powered displays, or new green powered engines. It felt more like a future-focus Detroit Auto Show than it did the traditional gadgetry of CES.
Now, there were still the wide array of products. Entire floors were still being dedicated to 3D printers, drones, and wearables. The focus in these floors were more about refinement and ease-of-use. The fitness wearable category is finally feeling like it’s growing up and finding a place in consumer’s daily lives versus simply being a gimmick. Drones are getting bigger. They are carrying more. Their internal hardware is getting smarter and traveling further. And 3D printers are moving beyond just printing – really into an all-in-one making machine. Now these machines are printing, scanning, engraving, and etching. Across all of these categories – you just got the sense that the markets and industry is starting to find it’s groove instead of just an emerging fad.
CES continues to grow and shape to where technology is taking us. At least in the very foreseeable future – it’s taking us to the next generation of vehicle. Ones that incorporate smarts. Self awareness. Environmentally conscience. And simply – fun and excitement for the driver.