Electronics Show Returns to Realism After Self-Driving Bubble Bursts

tech.hindustantimes.com:

The age of adventure is being replaced by the realm of reality in the automotive displays at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, once a fantastical flight of fancy that promised a Jetson's lifestyle was just around the corner.

But now when the show opens Jan. 5, CES will spotlight transportation technologies that are here and now, like autonomous tractors and electric cars. After the high-profile collapse of Argo AI in October, the former self-driving unit of Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG, the coin of the realm at this year's CES is profit, not potential. Car companies and startups alike will show technologies they expect will provide a return on investment in the near-term, not in some hazy tomorrow that may never come.

The show still will be packed with products trying to provide pizazz. At least 274 auto and mobility exhibitors will cover more than 400,000 square feet – equal to seven football fields – a 70% increase in floor space from last year's pandemic-depressed levels, according to the Consumer Technology Association that puts on the show.

But practicality and profit will be the buzz words at a more sober CES.

“There's no question that there's been a shift,” Gary Shapiro, president of the CTA, said in an interview. “The Biden administration has focused more on electric vehicles than they have on autonomous.”

And the transportation exhibitors are doing the same. There will be an electric Ram pickup truck concept from Stellantis NV that is set to take on Ford's F-150 Lightning, Rivian's R1T and Tesla Inc.'s forthcoming CyberTruck. Electric truck startup Lordstown Motors will show its Endurance plug-in pickup. BMW will show off a digital services concept car. General Motors Co.,