Without being there, Calysto wanted to get a real “feet on the street” viewpoint for this years Consumer Electronics Show (CES). So we invited one of the industry’s strong voices to write this year’s summary, for your reading enjoyment. So we bring to you Calysto’s Trade Show Vibes for 2024 CES by James Brehm of James Brehm & Associates
The buzz. Technology enthusiasts from around the world converged on Las Vegas January 9-12 for the latest iteration of The Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2024). The annual event gathered 135,000 attendees from over 150 countries to gain insights into what the future of technology holds. CES 2024 venues were packed with more than 2.5 million square feet of exhibits from 4,300 exhibitors, including 1,400 startups in “Eureka Park”. There were more than 250 conference sessions, featuring more than 1,000 speakers. And it’s estimated that the event’s 5,000-plus global media, analysts, and content creators drove 280 billion online impressions.
While many questions have come our way about what cool new gadgets we saw, interesting use cases of artificial intelligence (AI) were almost everywhere you looked.
Each year, there’s usually one technology that gets most of the focus at CES, with the noise and chatter drowning out other emerging technologies, and this year was no different. The talk was all about AI and its potential to transform our world. Almost every company exhibiting at the show mentioned AI as a driver of growth. Whether it was a discussion of using Amazon Alexa, ChatGPT, or developing their “own proprietary” AI engines, announcements on AI came from every direction.
The connected device world saw a new entrant at CES with Rabbit RI making its debut. Selling out its first two preorder batches (totaling 20,000 units) in a matter of hours, the team from Rabbit promises an AI-based pocket device that tips the OS/Application world on its head, replacing traditional app-based navigation with direct user commands to a single web interface. So instead of using one app for travel, another for shopping, a third for web search, and yet another for social media, Rabbit is a natural-language operating system that contextualizes individual use through a single pane of glass. Is this one device to rule them all?
And one more buzz worthy advancement seems to be the maturation of the Metaverse where big tech and large industrials are positioning the Industrial Metaverse as a way to build upon existing metaverse concepts and allow organizations to utilize IoT and sensor data to create digital twins of things (or a virtual representation of the physical world), and by using AR and special computing to optimize and remotely manage products and services. The promise of the Industrial Metaverse is to reduce time, cost, and complexity and transform complex industries, including transportation, infrastructure, and manufacturing. Is this real, or just “Second Life” redux?
The Program. The key themes for CES 2024 were horizontally focused on “Sustainability” and “Human Security for All”, across all vertical markets. Business and service sustainability is now top of mind, as technology firms address climate change by reducing emissions and improving energy efficiency, prioritizing responsible recycling, sustainable materials management, and changes to supply chains to embrace circular business models. The other key theme, Human Security for All, focused conference programming and keynotes on highlighting innovation and products that improve the lives of people around the world in an equitable way.
And while the show is still largely focused on things like wearables, A/V solutions, consumer IoT, automotive tech, smart cities, and immersive technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality, all of these things are focused on using sensors and connectivity to the internet to improve quality of life. And with an educational program that included more than 1,000 speakers from 250+ different organizations and keynotes and fireside chats from top executives at Siemens, Walmart, Hyundai, Best Buy, Intel, Amazon, Sony, Honda, L’Oreal, Intel, Qualcomm, and others, CES 2024 was surely the place to get a glimpse of how technology is changing the world.
Media & Analysts. It seems members of the press and analysts flock to CES more than almost any other business conference in the world, as more than 5,000 reporters, bloggers, podcasters, and industry analysts participated in CES 2024. Despite burnout on the part of those who’ve attended the event for many years, the opportunity to be in the same city and perhaps the same room with the most influential players in the industry outweighs almost every other factor.
IoT Specific
The IMC (or IoT M2M Council) again hosted the IoT Infrastructure Pavilion at CES. The number of companies showcasing solutions within the pavilion was significantly larger than in years past. Growth has come as IoT has matured from “connecting things” into the use of combinational technologies well positioned to enhance operations and processes for enterprise and consumer applications alike. Participants included MNOs, MVNOs, and managed connectivity providers, software platform companies, sensor providers, equipment makers, module vendors, solution integrators, and even companies providing professional services to bring solutions to life. It was a veritable one stop marketplace for OEMs to select their ecosystem partners.
Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs)
Software defined vehicles of all shapes and sizes dominated the show. They were everywhere. From the new solutions from large OEMs to emerging startups, bicycle, scooter, motorcycle, buggy/cart, car, truck, and boat makers brought an impressive array of next-generation electrified vehicles.
From the automobile camp, every major car, light truck, and SUV maker made their presence known at the show. Qualcomm showcased its industry leading position as partner-of-choice for auto OEMs and the breadth of its portfolio with more than 350M vehicles on the road globally. Software maker Blackberry made noise with several announcements. One such notable demonstration was their collaboration with Stellantis and AWS, where Blackberry showed off its QNX virtual cockpit development platform that accelerates the delivery of new infotainment technologies to customers.
On the water, Brunswick Corporations showcased the autonomous docking technology it is bringing to boats while Mercury Marine showcased its IoT enabled Avator electric outboard motor lineup. Several other companies showcased hydrofoils at the show, and Volvo Penta used the show to launch a new product called the IPS Professional platform, which incorporates a hybrid electric and conventional combustion engine into a single driveline. Volvo Penta also showed other IoT technologies for marine use such as assisted docking, dynamic positioning, and a professional-level Glass Cockpit helm display.
And two-wheelers were also represented in great numbers. Exhibitors included electric bike, scooter, and motorcycle names that some may know, but most do not, including Yadea, Honda, Verge, Segway, Horwin, XOTO, Flash Motors, in addition to many others. With the market expected to grow due to increasing demand for energy-efficient commuting options, rising concern for carbon emission by ICE-based two-wheelers, and increasing fossil fuel prices worldwide coupled with depleting reserves contributing to market growth, CES served as a place for manufacturers to meet both with technology suppliers and show off their new products.
And heavy equipment wasn’t left out. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve been in awe of large commercial vehicles, heavy duty trucks, construction and mining equipment, and agricultural implements. Heavy truck maker PACCAR showcased several advanced products and technologies including the Kenworth T680 fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). The John Deere stand showcased the company’s connected and autonomous construction, mining, and agricultural equipment, and they even had a live demonstration of their remote driving tractor solutions, with people at the show controlling tractors in a field outside of Austin, TX. Other manufacturers like Hyundai and Doosan displayed autonomous excavators including the sleek Bobcat RogueX,
Perhaps the coolest vehicle solution of all came from Sony Honda Mobility and the AFEELA electric car. Controlling it with a PlayStation 5 controller, the company highlighted its advanced features including AI capabilities, augmented reality navigation, autonomous parking, and a next-generation infotainment and navigation system that allows data captured from the advanced sensors of the vehicle to be translated into real-time 3D objects, allowing drivers to view their current location from any angle.
Smart Home
Amazon showed numerous IoT solutions in their booth; bikes, connected healthcare, home appliances, smart assistants, and robots. ZOOX, the autonomous ride sharing subsidiary of Amazon showed off its cutting edge IoT vehicles. But the most noise surrounded the soon to be released Echo Hub, which connected most of those products and acts as a single pane of glass to control your connected world and deliver on the promise of the smart home.
But Amazon wasn’t the only game in town with innovation on display. Plumbing fixture company Kohler had an amazing display with perhaps the coolest and most confusing item – an e-ink color changing toilet. Cool – but why?
Smart Cities
Smart mobility and traffic management, smart parking, sustainable energy management, air quality monitoring, smart street lighting, and smart water, just to name a few, were the topics being shown in booths and discussed in the smart cities sessions at the show. And AI, edge computing, electrification, the industrial metaverse, 5G, and connected devices seemed to be the technologies fueling the paradigm shift to sustainable and livable cities.
Healthcare
Health and Wellness solutions were on full display again at CES 2024. From the 10minds anti-snoring AI enabled pillow to the Abbott Labs leadless pacemaker, advances in connected healthcare are everywhere. The BeamO from Withings looked like something that Dr. McCoy (the original Star Trek chief medical officer) would use. It was a singular device that does it all — takes your temperature, works as a stethoscope, and even checks your heart rate and blood oxygen levels. Adjustable beds from Sleep Number, sleep apnea diagnostics solutions from Ruahlabs, and connected CPAP solutions from ResMed all caught my attention. And not to be outdone, diabetes companies were present showing cross manufacturer integrations of glucose sensors from Dexcom and Abbott with Tandem insulin pumps.
Networks
While last year seemed to be the year of 5G at CES 2024, converged cellular and satellite IoT connectivity was a hot topic for industry with multiple announcements made in connection to CES 2024. With few satellite connectivity providers offering commercial services based on the 3GPP Release 17 NTN specification today, announcements from companies such as Deutsche Telekom, Emnify, floLIVE, Monogoto, Quectel, Skylo, and Telit Cinterion amplified the hype surrounding the transformative solutions.
At the show, Ubiik’s announced LTE-M base station for the 915 MHz ISM band in the U.S. This solution will allow utilities, large industrials, and even municipalities to build, operate, and manage their own private networks without the onerous investment in spectrum. These companies will then be able to leverage the existing public network end-device ecosystem.
And we spoke with several service provider organizations about how they are leveraging Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) as a replacement for legacy wireline connectivity. Enterprising resellers are bundling IoT sensor devices with FWA to create high revenue managed IoT solutions. FWA provides businesses with critical communication technology with highly reliable always-on service and is quickly becoming a significant source of high-margin business. As more end-solutions are brought to market that take advantage of FWA connectivity, demand for these services will increase.
Final Word
It’s still unknown which cutting-edge technologies or next-generation applications will take hold and transform how we communicate, do business, and interact as a society. What’s more, figuring out which ones will actually benefit mankind is still a cloudy proposition. But what is clear, however, is that intelligent networking is becoming the connective tissue of a smarter planet.
CES was once a show about Consumer Electronics. And IoT was once a term that just described simple internet connected devices. But now, every device can benefit by being connected to the internet and other devices, and this doesn’t just benefit Consumers…it benefits humanity. As we move forward, CES will continue to be the go-to place to get a glimpse into the future.