If CES 2016 was the year Alexa arrived, CES 2017 was the year she took over. Amazon’s voice assistant appeared in virtually every product category on the show floor — refrigerators, cars, TVs, light switches, washing machines, and even a smart mirror. The phrase “works with Alexa” became the 2017 equivalent of a Wi-Fi certification sticker: ubiquitous and expected. Google’s Assistant was hot on its heels, debuting in a new wave of Google Home devices.
Autonomous vehicles dominated CES 2017’s automotive hall in a way they hadn’t before. NVIDIA unveiled the DRIVE PX 2 AI computing platform and announced a partnership with Audi, Mercedes, Volvo, and others. Intel announced its Mobileye acquisition intent, crystallizing the company’s self-driving ambitions. Toyota Research Institute, Ford, BMW, and GM all brought substantial autonomous tech to the floor — making clear that Silicon Valley and Detroit were converging whether they liked it or not.
Samsung’s acquisition of Harman closed days before CES, reshaping the connected car and audio landscape. LG showed off its Signature OLED W — a wallpaper-thin OLED TV that attached to the wall magnetically — probably the most jaw-dropping TV demo of the decade. And 8K appeared in Samsung’s booth for the first time as a serious roadmap item, not just a curiosity.
CES 2017 marked the moment AI assistants became ambient infrastructure — woven into the fabric of consumer products with no going back. ces.tech