CES

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is an annual show where the latest and most advanced consumer technologies are presented to the world. Held from Jan. 9-11, this convention captures everything from self-driving cars to air purifiers.

This year’s CES has over 4,500 exhibitors presenting their products to the world. CES is limited only to those who work in the industry. Amid the government shutdown, many speakers who were set to give a presentation at CES had to cancel their part of the convention.

Artificial Intelligence

One of the most anticipated products of this year’s CES is Artificial Intelligence. AI is the power behind voice assistants and machine learning. According to a poll by Invoca, about 70 percent of people believe that brand-based communications will be almost completely be taken over by robots and intelligent machines by 2020. “AI is definitely one of the ingredient technologies that will be pervasive throughout the show. We have a separate dedicated portion to it. But so many companies have so many things and it really affects so many areas. And a lot of the keynoters will be talking about it,” Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Technology Association said in an interview with ZDNet.

5G

Another large and highly anticipated part of the convention will be 5G internet and cellular data. 5G will bring the fastest internet speeds the world has ever seen. With these faster internet and data speeds, more and more data will be able to be transferred through the cloud. Wireless carriers will have keynote presentations on these large leaps in this technology at CES. “5G is clearly the future. Every 10 years there’s a new G — 4G was 2010, 3G was 2000. That’ll allow so many great things to happen. You have the transmission and you have the guts of it,” Shapiro said.

8K Displays

8K displays will be a major turning point in the industry of phones, computers and TVs. Major companies like Samsung are planning to extend the sizing of their HD televisions to around 80 inches, but these higher quality devices aren’t stocked to come out into homes just yet. Although TVs aren’t as popular as they were years ago, they are still a major player in conventions like these. “8K is going to be one of the talks of the floor: We expect a lot of companies to show 8K, it’s really huge. We’re making sure that we’re active in that area and have definition so everyone knows what we’re talking about — as we’ve done in other technologies, like HDTV and other areas,” explained Shapiro.

Cars

The wave of technology has hit the automotive industry and has now brought on the challenge of self-driving cars for companies to face. These cars depend on the concept of AI in the sense that these cars are controlled by intelligent machines. Self-driving cars can now change lanes, turn on turn signals and navigate highway exits and entrances, all autonomously. Although this trend may sound intriguing to some, almost half of the 25,000 people surveyed by Deloitte believed that self-driving cars were untrustworthy and dangerous. Many automotive companies are looking at self-driving cars as an opportunity to turn their uneventful 2018 into something productive in 2019.