CES Las Vegas, certainly the biggest trade show in the world dedicated to consumer electronics and technology, finished around a month ago. After calmly taking stock, we are sure that the constantly growing number of exhibitors is one of the many developments we can list. This year, there were 3900 of them, testament to the fact that the technology market is becoming ever more crowded and is enjoying continuous growth. From the technology perspective, there were essentially three big innovations, albeit with some reservations: autonomous driving, augmented reality and IOT.
Autonomous driving is imminent
The first big development at this CES can be seen in the automotive world: we are talking, of course, about self-driving cars. Although it is clear that being able purchase such a vehicle for now remains a dream, we are getting ever closer to the reality of being able to use driverless on-demand transport services, automated deliveries and commercial transport.
The three giants responsible for managing this huge technological innovation are Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm. Through their improvements to laser sensors which detect objects and the brand new 5G networks that are arriving in experimental form in numerous cities, these three big brands have provided an enormous boost to a market that is now ready to take off. One needs only think back to CES 2017 when the driverless cars were restricted to closed-off areas. This year however, cars such as the BMW 5 Series were free to move through the overcrowded traffic of Las Vegas, while, of course, requiring reliable, stable and safe infrastructure to support them.
For now, Augmented Reality surpasses Virtual Reality
This year’s CES also provided ample evidence proving that the world of augmented reality has imposed itself on the world of virtual reality, successfully finding many more applications in everyday life. If in 2017 VR was the undoubted protagonist, this year it is clear that it has become more inconsistent than virtual. According to the latest global market data from Canalys for the third quarter, Sony delivered 490 thousand PlayStation VRs while Facebook delivered 210 thousand Oculus Rift headsets, which are far from reassuring numbers. What struck the numerous attendees however, were the AR glasses that are produced from more or less emerging realities (for example Vuzix, Real Max and Rokid). These products show us how these objects can be more comfortable, with broader views (the best ones have up to a 100 degree field of view) and above all, they demonstrated they could offer much more useful services compared to those provided by virtual reality, even if they dispense with some of the usual “fireworks”.
The dialogue of the future is with our homes
Artificial intelligence will no longer be limited to our smartphones, but will overwhelmingly intrude into our homes as well. Alexa, like the Google Assistant, will now be able to provide their services through televisions, refrigerators and other appliances more generally. All everyday objects will thus be able to listen to us and respond rapidly to our requests.
The key will therefore be for the different brands to successfully integrate their respective artificial intelligences, in order to create a completely cohesive and thus successful experience, as Samsung has promised to do with Amazon and Google.
The only certainty for now is that this presence within the domestic setting will only diminish our privacy and will fill the big companies’ servers with details of our habits and preferences.
In all of this, Tribe is one thing that remains certain!
Among the multitude of technological revolutions announced for the coming year, Tribe’s brightly-coloured and fun accessories remain a simple and safe solution to support your everyday technology.
We aren’t dealing with driverless cars, but how can it exist, for example, your favourite superhero car charger? 🙂
