The largest CES in the 49-year history of the annual consumer electronics show in Las Vegas kicked off yesterday (4 January) with the Consumer Technology Association’s chief economist Shawn DuBravac outlining three key trends that will embody this year’s event.
Some 150,000 delegates including 45,000 from 150 different countries have descended on the Nevada gambling mecca and will see 20,000 new technology products exhibited over the next five days.
“This year differs from previous shows because it will focus more on technological meaningfulness rather than what is technologically possible,” said DuBravac (pictured). “We’ve accepted what can be done and now we must work out how it will positively impact our daily lives.”
According to DuBravac, technology advancements in 2016 will focus on ambient sensing, aggregated learning and a maturing of nascent ecosystems such as virtual reality, wearables, 4K resolution, 3D printing and the smarter home.
“This year we’re expecting key announcements, which will help evolve this sector to fully self-driven automation by 2020″
He said: “I’d estimate that over 15,000 of the new products at CES 2016 will have embedded sensors, working to digitise more of our analogue world. We’ll see sensors deployed in more non-traditional ways, measuring and monitoring continuously.
“Everything from our emotional responses to advertising through to the calorific content of our food can now be analysed and sensors will open the way for aggregated learning and more robust recommendations based on our environment and emotional state.
“Aggregated learning shared across devices and networks will lead to advances in voice recognition and autonomous cars,” DuBravac continued. “The automotive section of CES 2016 is over 200,000sqft this year so we’re expecting key announcements, which will help evolve this sector to fully self-driven automation by 2020.”
To coincide with the opening day of CES 2016, US auto manufacturer General Motors announced it will invest $500m in US-based ‘ride-hailing’ startup Lyft.
GM and Lyft said they will work together to develop a future network of self-driving cars that riders can call up on demand.
