The world’s biggest Consumer Electronics Show, or CES for short, opens Wednesday in Las Vegas and the Internet is abuzz with expectation. We can expect big news about several different technologies, including autonomous vehicles, high-resolution television and video games.
Major TV manufacturers are going to try to convince buyers that their present HD TVs are obsolete and that they should upgrade to 4K- or even 8K-resolution sets.
Those numbers refer to Ultra High Definition screens that provide up to 4,000 or 8,000 pixels horizontal resolution, rendering pictures very close to reality.
Another technology expected to show important advances is virtual reality, with goggles for transporting video gamers to different worlds.
“We truly believe that it's going to bring new people into gaming that haven't been in gaming before,” said Eric Bright of GameStop.
Technology developments and extensive testing of self-driving cars over the past year strongly point towards a possible unveiling of more sophisticated autonomous vehicles.
Manufacturers are racing to introduce a car that will take over the steering during tedious parts of driving, such as long stretches of highway or during rush hour traffic.
“We actually have autonomous driving where the car will actually steer itself and completely accelerate and break in stop and go traffic," said Paul La Puenta of Mercedes U.S. "So it really improves the quality of life for the driver and it makes the driving experience much more safer.”
Other technologies expected to announce new developments are wearable devices, not only smart watches but smart glasses and even smart rings.
Undoubtedly there will be new smart phones with all kinds of useful and not-so-useful apps.
And of course, there will be lots of robots – from small ones you can put in your pocket, to full-size delivery robots.
“Instead of getting the delivery by somebody coming up to your door and knocking on your door, you would get it by a robot,” said Ahti Heinla, CEO at Starship Technologies.
Experts say 2016 may turn out to be yet another year of interesting and exciting technological innovations.
