By Barbara Smith
Global tech companies of all sizes displayed their latest wares at CES 2023 in Las Vegas with exhibits ranging from electric vehicles, airport avatars, robotics, health aids, pet tech and more. Recognized as the world’s biggest consumer electronics show, this year’s event brought in 3200+ companies and over 115,000 attendees after a completely virtual 2021 because of the pandemic and a mostly virtual event in 2022.
Excitement ran high with exhibitors ranging from big names including San Diego’s Qualcomm, Sony and LG to tiny start-ups promising tech toys to stop snoring (Motion Pillow), speed up walking with electric inline skates (AtmosGear), a laser device to cure hair loss (Hair Boom), a fitness collar for dogs that monitors sleep and heart sounds (Invoxia), an AI-powered home defibrillator (Lifeaz) and much more. CES is the happening place where you might see the next big thing or an innovation launched in the prototype stage.
Qualcomm’s partnership with Sony and Honda made headlines with their rollout of the Afeela EV. Looking to become a player in next-generation cars, the elegantly designed vehicle with new entertainment quotients, uses Qualcomm’s “Snapdragon” digital chassis that handles both assisted driving and cockpit functions. Said Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, “We are transforming how people move.” We’ll have to wait a bit to drive this supercar though, as delivery is not projected until 2026.
With diversity and inclusion a central theme, CES offered programing featuring people of color, women, and those with disabilities, addressing a traditional lack of representation and funding in the tech field. Notable speakers included Travis Montaque, a Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur and CEO of Group Black; and Latasha Gillespie, Amazon Studios Global Head of DEIA. Black Girl Ventures, a group dedicated to creating access to capital for black and brown women entrepreneurs, provided networking opportunities at a Women in Tech Brunch. With the added theme of human security, organizers showcased how they are solving big global challenges with technology. John Deere displayed their agricultural technology that contributes to sustainability and access to food. zkVoting, an Innovation Award winner, created a secure voting technology on the blockchain, which aligns with the U.N. theme of political security. Airport security advances were featured in South Korea’s Incheon virtual airport booth which, using augmented and virtual reality, employed facial recognition to speed up baggage check remotely through biometric information and AR Wayfinding that provides GPS directions to your boarding gate.
In the health realm, Japan-based Loovic debuted a device designed to help those with difficulty navigating while they walk. The device, not yet available for purchase, uses sounds and vibrations to guide its user to destinations, eliminating the need to focus on a phone’s map app.
Shuttling convention-goers around the Las Vegas Convention Center was Elon Musk’s Tesla Underground, supplied with Model X and Y EVs that conveyed happy passengers between convention locations, covering a distance of one mile in less than a minute. Lights with changing colors filled the tunnel throughout the drive, giving the feel of a sci-fi adventure. In a nod to environmental sustainability, one Convention Center parking lot offered several free EV charging stations for attendees.
With celebrity sightings part of the CES allure, this year’s luminaries included Byron Allen, noteworthy for his leadership in business and technology; LeVar Burton, who announced his newest endeavor with a children’s podcast Sound Detectives; and Paula Abdul, who launched a fashion-forward line of audio glasses, Idol Eyes.
The global event offered tech gurus and seekers ways to connect and be inspired by technology aimed to change our world for the better.
