With CES 2017 kicking off, there are lots of people wondering what technology giant Microsoft will bring to the table. Year after year, the lines for Microsoft's attractions at the event seemingly grow longer and longer. This was especially true during the year they showcased the Kinect and its games at their showcase.
It has now been a couple of years since then and the hype surrounding Microsoft's announcements has seemingly died down. However, Microsoft is now looking to reignite the consumers' interest in them by making a big splash at this year's event in a different way. Experts believe that they will mostly be holding meetings with other large companies during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017.
Microsoft executives talk to people who work in different fields during these types of shows. For example, they may talk to sports leagues, toy companies, small startups, or even other technology companies they may be looking to collaborate with. These meetings fill up the schedules of the high-ranking officials at Microsoft, which is why it is now less common for them to appear on the actual show floor.
"There's a broad set of really smart, connected devices driving change to every industry. There's an incredible energy of startups and industries all trying to figure out how to use this technology," Steve Guggenheimer, head of Microsoft's Developer experience and evangelism division, said to ZD Net in an interview.
Guggenheimer also pointed out that Microsoft has been focusing more on the technology side of CES in the past couple years compared to the "consumer" side of things. "CES isn't a consumer show, it's a technology show," he said. However, this does not mean that Microsoft will forgo making major announcements at CES 2017.
Microsoft will look to unveil its plans for autonomous driving at this year's CES. What will make Microsoft's self-driving cars unique is how they will make use of artificial intelligence.
"[Artificial intelligence] bots will make real-time connections between traffic situations and pedestrian density via the current suite of sensing tools used in vehicles, from car-to-car (V2V) and car-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, to radar, camera and LIDAR systems to optimize driver safety and engagement. What's more, the same tech will use information gathered from a driver's personal preferences and daily routine," News 18 reported.
Watch a video on what to expect from this year's CES below: