The CES electronics fair has repeatedly been the scene of important technology premieres over the past 45 years. The first VCR appeared in 1970, the first DVD in 1996 and the first televisions with advanced OLED screen technology in 2008. However, the stock market has been slowed over the past three years by the corona pandemic. This year, 3,100 exhibitors from 173 countries will compete for the attention of CES attendees. Major themes in Las Vegas include these trends that may dominate the high-tech year 2023.
Artificial intelligence
At the end of 2022, applications with artificial intelligence experienced a spectacular breakthrough. For example, the AI research company OpenAI released the chatbot ChatGPT, which can provide apparently intelligent answers to questions. Rumors quickly spread that the text generator can write essays in seconds that, at least at first glance, hardly differ from extensively researched theses. The software robot can also imitate Shakespeare or write program code.
Text-to-image generators like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion can create impressive art on command. And they keep getting better with every update. The AI trend will continue in full force in 2023. It is foreseeable that the major AI specialists such as Google and meta-challengers such as OpenAI (Microsoft is involved in OpenAI) will not leave the field. But smaller providers and start-ups will also jump on the AI bandwagon.
other way around
On the one hand, the metaverse refers to a digital and interactive environment that can be entered with virtual reality glasses. In it, users can work, play, meet or shop as avatars. However, the metaverse also includes applications in which digital information is displayed in the user’s actual field of view. “For me, the Metaverse is the next generation of the Internet,” said Steve Koenig, who is responsible for market research at the trade show organizer, the US trade association CTA.
During the Las Vegas show, it becomes clear that the Metaverse is not just an obsession of Mark Zuckerberg, who is so into the trend that he even rebranded his Facebook company Meta. HTC is expected to offer a product that competes with Meta’s Quest VR goggles. And Sony announced before CES that the new virtual reality glasses Playstation VR2 should be launched in February. Among other things, four cameras are embedded in the headset, which record the movements of the controller and the players, including their viewing directions.
Something is also happening with metaverse applications: the car manufacturer Stellantis and Microsoft are presenting an exhibition space in the metaverse at CES. And a company called OVR is coming up with a solution to transfer scents into the metaverse. Apple could still bring a big move to market in 2023. Some observers are confident that the iPhone group will launch its first headset this year. Apple boss Tim Cook is enthusiastic about the ‘augmented reality’ approach, in which digital data expands the analog world. However, Apple traditionally does not allow itself to be looked at at CES, but relies on its own events.
Electric cars and autonomous driving
In addition to Sony and Honda, VW, Audi, BMW, Polestar and other car manufacturers are also represented at the technology fair. In addition to new models, a lot revolves around in-car entertainment systems and new driver assistance systems.
Autonomous cars will move through town and country much more safely than vehicles driven by humans. Almost all experts agree on that. But when the self-driving cars will finally be ready for the market is still in the stars. Last year, the “end” of the highly trafficked start-up Argo AI shocked the industry: Volkswagen and Ford stopped funding the Robocar project, writing off $4.5 billion. But at CES it becomes clear that the industry has not yet said goodbye to the vision of automated and autonomous cars. The companies follow different technical approaches. While Tesla has long relied entirely on cameras to capture its surroundings, most other players rely on a mix of radar and laser (lidar) sensors.
Tesla boss Elon Musk has announced a novelty in the automotive sector, the so-called 4D image radar. This system involves integrating many small radar antennas into one system. This would achieve much finer resolution, comparable to that of a much more expensive lidar system. The coming months will show whether Musk can deliver on his firm promises.
End of the chip crisis?
In the Corona years, many chips were scarce because the increased demand for electronic products interrupted important supply chains and errors were made in purchasing policies. According to CTA manager Koenig, that could change this year. “The huge demand from the pandemic times is declining. And that’s good news, because chips are finally available again,” says Koenig. The excessively long lead times are slowly returning to normal, also because more production facilities are being commissioned. For the industry, however, this could also be a harbinger of another problem : “We will move from a chip shortage to a possible oversupply.”
(oli/sda/awp/dpa)
Source: Watson
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
