Technology Changes, but CTA Fighting Same Policy Battles: Shapiro

CTA is fighting the same policy battles today it has been fighting for years, CTA President Gary Shapiro said at the start of CES in Las Vegas Tuesday. Every company “can be, or perhaps should be, a tech company,” he said. “We’re urging policymakers in Washington, and around the globe, to adopt rules and laws that protect consumers but also promote innovation and growth,” Shapiro said. “That means developing lighter touch rules” supporting existing businesses and those seeking market entry, Shapiro said.

Technology is changing priorities, Shapiro said. For instance, 25% of people say they would rather give up one of their five senses than their smartphone and 10% would rather sacrifice their pinkies, according to recent surveys, he said.

The flying taxis and ambient light-powered health monitors at CES were unimaginable four decades ago, Shapiro said. Innovation has created “entirely new categories,” including AI and machine learning, augmented and virtual technology and “a whole range of smart and connected technologies,” he said. At his first CES in Las Vegas in the 1980s, “the Walkman was really hot, the CD was making its public debut, car audio was just coming of age … and major tech companies were showing off some of the first camcorders and electronic game systems,” Shapiro said.

In a panel on vehicle-to-everything technology, Justine Johnson, Michigan's chief mobility officer, said policymakers and industry should collaborate. Her state is dedicating a lane on I-94, starting this winter, for V2X, she said. Tests will help the state understand how the technology is used and be expanded, she said. “It’s the spirit of collaboration that’s really pushing our state forward.”

AT&T is talking with Michigan and Detroit officials about V2X plans, said Jason Currie, AT&T director-business development. “This is about acceleration,” he said: “We’ve talked about V2X and cellular V2X for years, now is the time for us to work together to move it forward and move it forward quickly.”

For automakers to get involved, they have to believe that a V2X ecosystem will be built, said Brad Stertz, Audi director-government affairs. “The big hang-up” is completion of FCC rules for the 5.9 GHz band, he said. If rules aren’t “crystal clear,” the band is “pretty much useless,” Stertz added. The time for demonstrations has passed, he said.

Metaverse

In an opening keynote Monday night, Siemens CEO Roland Busch said the industrial metaverse and generative AI are making “building and using technology” easier and faster. “We will be able to accelerate innovation, accelerate sustainability and accelerate access to new tech,” he said. “Technology is the most powerful tool humanity has -- it got us where we are today and it will take us where we need to be,” he said.

The industrial metaverse is almost impossible to distinguish from the real world, Busch said. Through the metaverse people can use AI to solve “real world problems,” combining the real and digital worlds, he said. Companies will be able to simulate whatever they want to build in the real world and test it in the industrial metaverse, speeding the pace of innovation, Busch noted.

The industrial metaverse exists already, Busch said. For example, before Siemens “poured the first concrete” for a recent factory, it had already built a “digital twin,” he said. “Once the digital twin was perfect, we built the factory in the real world and we built it faster than ever.”

Themes at CES this year include making communications more inclusive, with glasses that serve as hearing aids and translate voice to text and advances in self-driving vehicles, said Kinsey Fabrizio, CTA senior vice president-CES. Other trends include sustainability and security, she said. Connected farms mean less waste and the IoT is helping make communities safer, she said.