My 3 Wow Moments from the 2023 CES - 1 of 3

The CES in Las Vegas is the annual global digital technology event. Each year, the entire tech world gathers there and many innovations, more or less useful, are discovered, some of which amaze and shape future trends.

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The 2023 edition of the CES was marked by a strong comeback of the show, after two "different" years related to the pandemic. With 115,000 visitors, including 40,000 from 140 countries (outside North America) and 4,800 media / press from 69 countries, we are delighted to see the CES before CoVid again.

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In a very subjective way, I will share once a week the 3 trends that surprised me this year.

?Mobility: transformation or revolution.

The mobility market is undergoing a transformation. We have known for a few years that autonomous vehicles and the electrification of vehicles are shaking up manufacturers and equipment manufacturers. But it was only by visiting the West Hall that I realized how much! The West Hall is the new 25,000 square meter exhibition space within the Las Vegas Convention Center, which the CES has entirely dedicated to mobility.

You can go there in a Tesla by taking the "loop" a tunnel under the city that avoids traffic jams, and of course you can find many ADAS, electric vehicles and hydrogen batteries. Most manufacturers are present (Ford, Audi, BMW, Crysler, Stellantis, Mercedes, ...) as well as manufacturers of heavy machinery (Caterpillar and John Deere in particular).

The vehicles presented by these two giants were worth the trip alone: Caterpillar showed a huge construction vehicle, which is hard to imagine what it could be used for on a French scale ... But we are indeed in the US !! ??

?John Deere, for its part, presented an autonomous tractor, capable of operating 24x7, and equipped with a system for treating weeds that targets unwanted plants, thus minimizing the quantity of pesticides and optimizing fertilizer consumption. The solution also won a CES Best of Innovation Award, which once again recognizes a solution based on Machine Learning and Computer Vision, two flagship disciplines of Artificial Intelligence. Again, the gigantism surprises: the size of the machine exceeds 60 meters...

The environmental emergency is pushing all automotive players to accelerate the development of electric vehicles at the expense of autonomous vehicles. So in the aisles, we see much more hydrogen batteries or batteries and other Battery Management Systems (BMS), than driver assistance systems (ADAS) ...

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But what struck me the most was the arrival of "software defined vehicles", minimalist rolling platforms, whose use is defined by the accessories that are attached to them and by the software they carry. Thus, the same platform can be transformed from a snowplow into a school bus or ambulance according to needs. It is very likely that this new technological approach will be accompanied by a revolution in the business model of manufacturers, who will no longer sell more than one vehicle, where they once sold several.

Assuming that it is still traditional manufacturers who hold this market! Software Defined Vehicles will also give prominence to accessory manufacturers and solution integrators, possibly at the expense of traditional equipment providers, who are delivering single individual components.

This trend sees new players arriving (Applied RV, ZF, MAGMA, Cenntro, etc...), unknown to me as a novice, who seem able to challenge the market as it is. After spending a few hours in the West Hall, I understood that some manufacturers were even entrusting all the developments of their future vehicles to such new players, particularly the company MAGMA, pushing even further the sharing of the basic platform. One could thus imagine that, in a few years, all vehicles will share the same fundamental components (chassis, electric motorization, batteries and BMS, transmission and braking system, running gear, ADAS...), and that manufacturers will only focus on the exterior and interior designs of the vehicles they market... If this trend materializes, it could drastically compress the maneuvering space of car and equipment manufacturers. The future will tell us... The next CES will show us!

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In any case, the advent of the West Hall at CES confirms a strong trend that has been underway for several years: the CES becomes a major show for the automotive world, making the Detroit Motor Show, the flagship event of the automobile, even more unstable, and confirms even more that we must now consider our means of transportation as (large) connected objects.

I intend to share my second Wow moment next week, so stay tuned !

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