8Notable Announcements Despite Going DigitalCXO INSIGHTSCES went digital for obvious reasons this year. I missed the serendipity associated with strolling up and down alleys of startups and wandering around corporate booths. It was much more difficult to feed my curiosity and discover unexpected products, services, materials, partnerships or old friends, all online. However, I did not miss having achy feet at the end of the day! All in all, I missed the live version. After reporting on mobility and autotech at previous CES exhibitions (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), I am happy to share what drew my attention this year. The unique format attracted fewer than half of last year's exhibitors, i.e. 1960 vs 4500. The largest cohorts came from the USA (569), Korea (341), China (203) and France (135). Whereas 170,000 people attended last year, I assume more people were able to take part this year, which is a good thing. The digital venue will remain accessible until February 15 for content viewing. This year's main mobility / autotech topics were digital cockpit and in-cabin experience, electrification, and autonomous driving, although to a lesser extent. The best illustration of the digital cockpit trend came from Daimler. The immersive MBUX Hyperscreen, which will be first featured on the Mercedes EQS, will certainly give Tesla Model S' 17-inch center display and Porsche Taycan's 4-display set-up a run for their money. The 56-inch single, curved piece of glass almost runs pillar-to-pillar and hosts specific OLED displays zone in front of the driver, as well as the front passenger and in the center. Perceived quality seems amazing (video). An 8-core CPU will control drive and comfort features with the assistance of AI. The "co-driver display" offers a broad array of options and the ability to share content with rear passengers. For safety reasons, this display will apparently be de-activated if the driver peeks at it, thanks to a camera that monitors their eye gaze.Augmented Reality associated with a Head-Up Display (HUD) also made the show, after being introduced on VW's recently launched ID.3. Panasonic presented it own version. In both cases, computer vision and object classification are combined with navigation input and the HUD to project guidance and safety-critical information in front of the driver. The decreasing cost of HUDs, the increasing availability of the raw data and compute power should make this feature almost ubiquitous in a few years. Sony surprised us last year when they introduced Vision-S Concept, a battery electric sedan that leverages the company's broad range of tech. If most people had any doubts as to Sony's real intentions, this should no longer be the case. The company doubled down, showing road testing as well as presenting their partners. These include Magna Marc Amblard, Founder & Managing Director
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