CES Starts With Focus on 5G, Autonomous Vehicles; More Questions Than Answers
LAS VEGAS -- CES kicked off Monday with lots of talk about 5G, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and even flying vehicles. A recurring theme was many unknowns remain. As usual, CES is providing many more questions than answers. With the federal government shut down, officials won't be on hand to offer guidance from the administration.
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Ford said Monday it will include cellular vehicle-to-everything technology (C-V2X) in all new U.S. vehicle models starting in 2022. “Planned alongside the rapidly building 5G cellular network, C-V2X enables direct communication between the connected devices, meaning a signal doesn’t need to first travel to a cellular tower, allowing vehicles to quickly send and receive information,” Ford said. “It lets drivers know what’s ahead of them.”
Alvaro Ramis, Moia head-global market development and partnerships, said during a panel the company is working through many issues as it builds a fleet of self-driving vehicles. Ramis predicted different deployments in different parts of the world. In the U.S., the focus is on underserved populations, in other places, environmental concerns come to the forefront, he said. “The problems are local,” he said: The issues are different in Los Angeles and Singapore.
If hundreds of the vehicles are on the road, “where are you going to put the infrastructure?” Ramis asked. “It’s very expensive real estate. It’s very expensive infrastructure.” Lots of challenges remain, Ramis said. “There are so many questions. … You’re learning with actual vehicles and customers on the road.” It’s important “to have a 10-year vision,” he said.
Fifth-generation wireless will mean 100 times the speed now available, said Lani Ingram, Verizon vice president-smart cities. “You start thinking about where autonomous is going,” she said. The sensors and video are what will make autonomous vehicles work, she said: “You’re not going to be able to do anything … without 5G.”
What 5G will look like is hard to say, Ingram said. “Things will become a lot more video-based and a lot more virtual,” she said. Hopefully, 5G will mean not just gadgets but a better quality of life, she said. Data concerns also will grow in importance, with customers having more control, she said.
The new smart city “really is the thing that sits on top” of what Verizon has been doing for decades, Ingram said. Connectivity and latency are key, Ingram said. The 5G investments Verizon is making “are so critical,” she said. Verizon has to work with cities to build relationships, Ingram said. “The customer is a partner,” she said. Verizon has to work with local innovators and universities, she said.
People need to trust AI if flying vehicles are to work, said Will Cottrell, Raytheon licensing manager. AI will have to play a big role in air traffic management, he said. Widespread use of flying vehicles is probably about 10 years away, he said: “We’re going to get there quickly. Collaboration is going to be the key.” A large number of stakeholders “need to be satisfied,” he said.
The future is about “enabling” better audio and video content, said Jyri Huopaniemi, Nokia head-product and technology and strategy. Industry needs to rethink the role of sensors, which will to some extent replace cameras, he said, and AI will have a big role.
“You get in a car … because you want to go somewhere,” said Clare Jones, What3Words chief commercial officer. People use an addressing system that’s hundreds of years old and that no longer makes sense, Jones said. London alone has 14 Church Roads, she said. Her company divides the world into 57 trillion squares, each three-by-three meters, she said. Better location information will be key to autonomous vehicles, she said.
Technology is transforming the customer experience, said Francois de Bodinat, ZeroLight chief marketing officer. “It’s all about every single touch point the customer will go to,” he said. Using VR and AR, “we give you a glimpse of what the experience will be once you’re inside the car,” he said.
Warner Bros. is working through what entertainment will look like in autonomous vehicles, said Mike Zink, vice president-technology. What it doesn’t want to do is show the content already available other places, putting an iPad at the front of the car, he said. “How can we create experiences that you can’t have anywhere else?”