The best tech of CES 2015 so far: Featuring Audi's driverless A7 and Alcatel’s OneTouch Watch
Legions of tech companies are battling it out to get their products noticed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. But will any of the tech on display really make an impact on our lives?
AKQA's Christopher Marsh is on the ground for us to wade through the gimmicky gadgets and find the truly transformative tech. Each day this week he'll report back on the most interesting ideas he has seen so far.
As has become customary at CES, the big automotive brands are keen to show off their latest innovations.
Mercedes unveiled its F 015 Luxury in Motion driverless concept car, giving an insight to the marque’s future. Hyundai followed a similar theme, presenting driverless parking, pedestrian detection, and automatic narrow route assistance.
Perhaps the most impressive was Audi’s driverless A7, which had actually travelled to Las Vegas from San Francisco with minimal input from a human driver. These radical changes to personal travel will present exciting opportunities to create new brand partnerships.
The smartwatch category is maturing fast, with a greater variety on show this year.
The LG G Watch R was one of the most attractive designs, although more expensive than the rest in its class. Sony’s metal SmartWatch 3 also looks great, and Withings has introduced a new version of its premium Activité – the Activité Pop. The new version contains the same functionality, but will appeal to a broader market with its dramatically reduced price tag.
Finally, Alcatel’s OneTouch Watch combines an elegant design with a heath tracker. At around $150 it’s a great deal – the heart rate monitor seems to work well, and unlike Motorola’s Moto 360 it works with the iPhone.
Sharp has been busy looking at new ways for users to interact with its vehicles. The brand demonstrated its free form display (FFD) technology – screens that can be cut into any shape. They have no edges, so they can create beautiful and functional dashboard components.
In addition, Sharp produced a dual view LCD screen with proximity gesture sensor. This unit allows the passenger and driver of a car to see different output on the same screen at the same time. This is facilitated by the different viewing angle, and the unit includes a proximity sensor on either side to allow each person to interact with the screen without touching it.
Christopher Marsh is director of technology operations at AKQA