Top consumer technology show CES kicks off the year with a bang in Las Vegas with new product announcements and releases from some of the biggest tech in the world as they look to set the tone for the year.
The show brings together everything from smart cars to smart home devices and smartphones, as well as a whole host of other devices and gadgets.
With artificial intelligence and virtual reality two of the major trends hitting the show, CBR lists five of the biggest and most interesting announcements at CES 2017.
Audi and Nvidia AI car
Following its keynote at CES 2017, Nvidia unveiled its role as leader in augmented reality with its many announcements of upcoming releases in the sector.
In the words of Jen-Hsun, Co-founder, President and CEO of Nvidia, “Because of artificial intelligence we’re now able to realise the dreams that we’ve been dreaming about for so many years, what used to be science fiction is going to be a reality in a few years.”
One of the company’s main announcements was its partnership with Audi, who together with the president of Audi, revealed that they will be working together to deliver advanced AI cars by 2020.
The first part of the companies’ collaboration focuses on Nvidia’s AI platform for self-driving cars, Drive PX, which uses trained AI neural networks to understand the surrounding environment and determine a safe path forward.
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Nvidia’s CEO also provided details of further partnerships with mapping companies HERE and ZENRIN, as well automotive suppliers ZF and Bosch. The company plans to reinvent the transportation industry with the AI car.
Nvidia also unveiled its updated version of SHIELD, which is to include features that will transform it into an AI-powered hub for smart homes. It is support Google’s assistant and SmartThings. It will be available to buy early 2017.
To find out what other releases were made, click next page.
HTC wireless VR and Vive
HTC Vive, which was announced at CES 2016 has been re-released with advanced updates at the 2017 show. One of the main announcements being, the addition of wireless VR.
HTC announced that its new partnership with Intel will see the company working on a WiGig wireless VR solution that will include a 360-degree tracking.
The WiGig solution is a fast, short-range wireless network otherwise known as 802.11ad. It uses wider channels in the unlicensed 60GHz band, making it capable of multi-gigabit speeds with low latencies of up to 8Gbps.
The company also announced its new product, Vive Tracker, which is a small device made to enable developers to track any object in virtual reality.
The Vive Tracker will be available from the second half of 2017, with the pricing and availability to made available closer to the release date.
This comes in addition to the update of its VivePort app store that will launch a subscription-based service for testing out VR apps and games, as well as developing a platform for arcade owners to easily offer VR experiences.
The subscription will be available from early 2017 but is ready for users to pre-register for a free trial.
Did VR take the lead with this years releases? click next page to find out.
Lenovo VR headset
Lenovo revealed its first VR headset, which is designed to work in collaboration with Microsoft’s Windows Holographic platform.
Compared to Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, the headset is expected to be noticeably smaller with higher resolution. The headset uses two 1440 x 1440 OLED panels for its display.
The headset will work without the need of an external camera as it will include six-degrees of freedom tracking.
Lenovo has announced that it will not be producing any additional motion controllers, and instead plans to rely solely on third-party options that will be manufactured to Windows Holographic specifications.
All applications in Windows store will be accessible in a theatre-style, with some of the HoloLens software to be converted to the platform.
For another big company with a release, click next page.
Intel VR headset
Intel surprised its audience at CES 2017, with the launch of its new headset ‘Project Alloy’, which was announced in 2016 but demonstrated for the first time at the show.
The headset will not require a separate PC or a connection to a power source as it includes a built in computer and battery.
The demonstration included two players in a mock living room to reveal how the headset could create a virtual replica of the room, what the company refers to as ‘merged reality.’
The headset won’t be manufactured by Intel but the technology will be offered to other companies to build products around.
It is expected to begin its release by the end of 2017.
For the final top VR release of the year, see next page.
Asus ZenFone
Finally, is Asus which revealed ZenFone AR and ZenFone 3 Zoom at the show. The ZenFone AR is billed as the world’s first smartphone to be both Tango and Daydream-ready.
The company said that it had worked closely with Google to ensure the smartphone works perfectly with both Google Tango and Daydream platforms.
The device includes Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 821processor and 8GB of RAM, which the company described as being able to deliver unmatched AR and VR experiences.
The front of the phone features a 5.7 inch Super AMOLED QHD screen with 2560×1440 pixels resolution, which makes content viewable in virtual reality.
The ZenFone AR will be available in the second half of 2017.
For all other news from CES 2017, see here.
