GM FYI Blog

A Report from the Consumer Electronics Show

GM Chairman Rick Wagoner and Consumer Electronics Association President and CEO Gary Shapiro

By Christopher Barger
Director, GM Global Communications Technology

This past week, GM was part of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Our CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner gave a keynote on Tuesday — the first time an automaker’s chairman ever keynoted at the conference. We announced a new E-Flex concept car that we hope to make reality in the near future, the Cadillac Provoq. And we showed off the self-driving “Boss” Chevy Equinox that won the DARPA challenge.

I was lucky enough to attend CES and host a handful of electronics and automotive bloggers to see GM’s vehicles and meet with some of our executives. I got to see the immediate reactions of tech bloggers like the guys at SlashGear and DailyTech as they rode in the Boss and got to experience riding in a driverless car for the first time. One of the guys got out of the Boss and proclaimed it to be the biggest rush he’d had since jumping out of an airplane!

I also got to experience it myself — and let me tell you, it’s a surreal experience being in that passenger seat and looking over to realize that no one is driving the car you’re in. It’s kind of exhilarating and disconcerting at the same time — but how cool! It was one of the more interesting things I’ve done since coming to GM.

CES itself was particularly interesting — it seems to get bigger and more incredible every year. One of the things I particularly noticed while walking the show floor was a predominant theme of convergence, or the end of the definition of “place.” There doesn’t seem to be much definition anymore between, say, “home” or “office” — services or capabilities are increasingly available wherever you are. Mobility was everywhere — the idea that you can use products or services without being tied anywhere. So much of what I saw was designed for seamless flexibility — use your iPod (for example) in the car, at work, connected to your home network.

For us in the automotive industry, that’s going to mean continuing to incorporate electronics products and devices into vehicles, building technology into our products that allow you to blur those lines of place… consumers appear to increasingly want the same access to information and entertainment and connectivity in their vehicles that they get when online. If you were at the show, you could be forgiven for starting to think of the car almost as much as a personal entertainment center as “merely” a method of transportation or a statement or reflection of personality.

The other thing I noticed was that even though the show was divided into three halls — audio/video, auto technology, and IT/wireless — many of the same products were available or on display in all three halls. There’s just no simple way anymore to divide them up neatly, because really so much technology now bleeds into multiple categories. (We’re back to that theme of convergence again.)

All in all, it was a great week and a very interesting show to be a part of. It was great to see how receptive everyone was to hearing from General Motors, and to get feedback from CES attendees on the work we’re doing. Now it’s on to the North American International Auto Show this week in Detroit – hope to see you there!

If you’d like to see some more photos from CES, make sure to check out our Flickr set.