It’s January and we should be at CES in Las Vegas city’s convention center right now. Unfortunately, coronavirus had other plans and TomTom, along with many other companies, has decided to exercise maximum caution and not attend in-person. CES is still going ahead though, albeit with reduced attendance and a host of virtual presentations. But we’re not going to let anything stand in our way, here’s the low down on what’s hot at this year’s CES in automotive.
CES is a giant of a show. In pre-Covid times it would attract some 180,000 attendees from all walks of the tech world. Products like televisions, stereos, mobile phones, computers and laptops are what CES built its name on, in more recent years the show’s automotive section has grown and gained more interest than ever.
CES is still going ahead, but there won’t be as many people there as usual. We’re still keen to experience as much of it as possible, even from distance.
CES is still going ahead, but there won’t be as many people there as usual. We’re still keen to experience as much of it as possible, even from distance.
This year’s edition was going to be no different with the largest number of automotive exhibitors in the show’s history. All of us at TomTom, myself in particular, were extremely excited to go to CES, not just to speak to folks in the industry about what we’ve been working on recently, but also to check out what everyone else has been working on.
Even though we’re not there in-person, we are in spirit (and virtually), here are some of our favorite things we’re seeing.
Screens (and digital cockpits) everywhere
If we’d have been at CES, we’d have been talking about TomTom IndiGO, the open software development platform that’s designed to make it easier, cheaper and quicker for carmakers to build their in-vehicle experiences. It’s been created to service a growing need in the industry, one which is a result of two things: drivers expecting dynamic and high-tech in-vehicle experiences and the challenging production processes carmakers face when developing software.
Indeed, if what’s on show at CES is anything to by, which it probably is, we won’t be able to buy a car in the future without it having at least a couple of large, high resolution screens. While this is great for consumers, it comes with baggage for carmakers: how to make great, unique in-car experiences.
German automaker BMW showed off its “Theater Screen”, because the in-vehicle experience for passengers and when you’re parked is as important as what the car’s actually like to drive these days.
Stellantis showed off its award winning Uconnect 5 in some of its Jeep vehicles. These cars also come with Amazon Fire TV built in, giving passengers access to a nice selection of entertainment apps.
Mercedes-Benz took headlines with its Vision EQXX concept, which you guessed it, has a massive screen that sweeps fluidly from driver’s side to the passenger’s side of the dashboard. Sure, it’s just a concept, but take a look at many contemporary cars and you’ll see a number of screens which suggest something like Mercedes’ concept is on its way.
The Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX takes the dashboard display to the next level. Seamless, wide and majestic.
The Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX takes the dashboard display to the next level. Seamless, wide and majestic.
Electrification is still at the top of the agenda
EVs are very much still the talk of the CES town. Even though they’ve been on show at CES in many past editions of the show, their novelty is far from wearing out.
Speaking personally, I was most excited to see the Fisker’s Ocean EV. I feel like Fisker is one of the more underappreciated EV startup brands at the moment, although that seems to be changing. The company showed off a near production ready version at the L.A. Auto Show last year, and heads started turning.
At CES, Fisker will still be present, and it will be showing off its 4D radar equipped ADAS system. It says this is the 4D radar system to be offered in a consumer vehicle. 4D radar systems, as their name suggests, capture visual information in four dimensions to understand the distance and speed an object is travelling. One main benefit is that radar works better in poor weather, where LiDAR tends to suffer.
The Fisker Ocean at an unveiling at Manhattan Beach pier. With the vehicle expected to go into production this year, you can be certain we’ll be hearing a lot more from the Californian startup.