CES is slowly morphing into the Las Vegas Motor Show
Keynotes from two different automotive CEOs highlight a shift in industry trends.
The tech and auto industries are closer than ever before, and the lines get blurrier every day. CES, a staple of tech-industry trade shows, continues its Animorph-style transition into an auto show in 2017 with not one, but two automaker CEO keynote speeches.
Both Ford CEO Mark Fields and Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn will give keynote speeches at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. CES 2017, which kicks off just after the New Year, marks the first time Nissan has participated in the show. Ghosn will discuss various tech advancements as well as recent partnerships.
Nissan is, frankly, a bit late to the game. As Forbes points out, Ford has been a part of CES ever since its introduction of the first Sync system with Microsoft in 2007. Former GM CEO Rick Wagoner was the first auto-CEO keynote in the following year. And, just last year, Chevrolet used CES as the location for the debut of its battery-electric Bolt EV.
In order to accommodate all these new folks, CES is again expanding its square footage, this time from 182,000 to 210,000. Of course, since it's CES, what space isn't occupied by automakers will be occupied by all manner of technologies, from smart-home equipment to 3D printing and just about every other topic under the sun.
And, of course, the whole CNET squad will be there to report on all the techy happenings. Roadshow will be there for the first time, too -- our team didn't become its own separate entity until the week after CES 2016, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.