Automotive tech takes the digital stage at CES 2021

Source: Smart Cities Dive Published: January 12th, 2021

The world's largest consumer electronics show, CES, has embraced a fitting framework this year with its first-ever all-digital event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the grandeur of the online conference pales in comparison to the show's traditional Las Vegas set-up, industry executives are just as eager to showcase their products — with many touting their new automotive innovations in Monday press conferences.

Vehicle technology is just one of six key trends the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which runs CES, highlighted in its list of 2021 trends to watch. Such technologies include cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) features, mobility-as-a-service (MaaS), autonomous vehicles (AVs) and electrification — all of which were showcased by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and automakers on Monday.

Many of these technologies will be driven by the advancement in 5G networks, said Steve Koenig, vice president of research at CTA, during the 2021 trends session.

"We're overlaying 5G in smart cities and it'll be very interesting to see, as those networks deploy, how that will take shape. Will it be vehicle-to-vehicle first? Will it be vehicle-to-infrastructure or smart cities things?" said Koenig, noting that 5G networks will "serve as a framework for the 21st century."

Smart Cities Dive checked in on a number of OEMs and leaders in the mobility space to assess which automotive technologies could make waves in 2021.

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Photo by Ernest Ojeh on Unsplash