CES 2024 rang in the new year with its annual tech trade show which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event started on Tuesday, January 9 and ran until Friday, January 12, 2024. CES 2024 had over 130,000 attendees and more than 4,000 exhibitors. As you might expect, AI was a major theme this year.
CES 2024 keynote addresses showcased global industry leaders and offered insider insights into the technologies changing our industry and our lives. Keynote speakers included:
L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus on the role that sustainable, accessible and inclusive beauty tech plays in driving positive impact.
Siemens CEO Dr. Roland Busch on technology that is enabling leading brands to improve the way we live, work, move, and make.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon shared Walmart’s vision to design and build technology that will usher in the next generation of retail.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon detailed more about the company’s overall move towards investing in AI hardware in its offerings, from smartphones to PC gaming systems.
HD Hyundai CEO Kisun Chung on how tech innovations are empowering Future Builders to change the way we build infrastructure.
Some of the featured CES 2024 exhibitors include:
- Samsung – Showcasing its latest innovations in home appliances, mobile devices, and more 1.
- LG – Displaying its latest OLED TVs, home appliances, and other cutting-edge technologies 12.
- Sony – Exhibiting its latest audio and video products, including the new Bravia XR Master Series A90J OLED TV 1.
- Intel – Showcasing its latest processors, graphics cards, and other hardware 1.
- Qualcomm – Exhibiting its latest Snapdragon processors, 5G modems, and other mobile technologies.
Here are some of the most interesting news and gadgets from the show:
- Qualcomm revealed that its anticipated AI-powered chip can improve functionality on new gen VR headsets by making it easier to track a headset user’s hands, controllers and eyes during use.
- Consumer robotics firm Ogmen was at CES 2024 to show its new ORo pet companion, an autonomous robot designed to assist with pet care by feeding, providing medicine and even playing with your dog using a ball launcher built into its chest.
- LG and Samsung both unveiled transparent TV screens bordering on holographic, with LG having just announced its OLED-powered display will go on sale later this year. Almost invisible when turned off, LG’s 77-inch transparent OLED screen can switch between transparent mode and a more traditional black background for regular TV mode.
- Samsung introduced Ballie, a cute rolling smart hub that looks like a giant yellow tennis ball on wheels. It can adjust your smart home devices, check on your pet, and it even has a built-in projector to display video on any surface in your home.
- ColdSnap unveiled an on-demand ice cream maker! You simply pop a flavor pod into the machine, press a button, and in under 2 minutes, out comes a bowl of ice cream! It can also make non-dairy frozen desserts, frozen smoothies, frozen lattes, frozen protein shakes, and more.
Here is what I would consider to be the most ambitious project: Flying Taxis!
Hyundai-owned Supernal has invented an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. The S-A2 vehicle seats five people – a pilot and four passengers. Supernal aims to have some working models in the air in the next couple of years, with government approval beginning around 2026.
The company’s long-term plan is to create a network of vertiports with eVTOLs zipping in and out of them. These vertiports will be near important destinations like airports and hospitals, the kinds of places people want to get to quickly.
For example, in a car, depending on traffic, the trip from LAX to Downtown LA – a little under 20 miles by roads – would take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. Supernal estimates the SA-2 would make the trip in only about 43 minutes.
Of course, this will require solutions for those first and last miles in a passenger’s eVTOL journey. This is where parent company Hyundai would come in, with custom vehicles ferrying passengers to and from the vertiports, sort of like an airport shuttle.
This whole concept coincides with Hyundai CEO Kisun Chung’s keynote speech on changing the future of infrastructure. It will be interesting to see where the eVTOL flight paths will fit in between all the overhead power lines and existing flight paths. We’ll just have to wait a couple more years to find out!
About CES
CES® is the Global Stage for Innovation. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, CES is the only trade show that showcases the entire tech landscape at one event. CES highlights companies including manufacturers, developers and suppliers of consumer technology hardware, content, technology delivery systems and more. It also includes a conference program where the world’s business leaders and pioneering thinkers address the industry’s most relevant issues.