CES 2019 opens in Las Vegas

"Gesture control" has become the buzzword at the CES 2019, which officially opened in Las Vegas on Tuesday (local time).

Visitors at the Kia Motors' booth looked amazed as they experienced gesture control features, watching movie-like scenes before their eyes. Passengers in the READ (Real-time Emotion Adaptive Driving) concept car stared at monitors as they selected menus on an invisible screen, which also provide navigation or map information called "V (virtual) Touch." A small camera attached in the interior of the car controls the features of the vehicle by recognizing finger and eye movements.

Until recently, car manufacturers had attached touch screens or voice recognizable AI systems, which could play music or provide navigation information, as state-of-the-art features. Gesture control refers to the feature of controlling various auto functions by hand gestures, which is easier and faster to control than touch screens or buttons. It is fun and "futuristic."

Other forms of various mobility technologies are also displayed at the annual consumer tech show. Hyundai Mobis released its autonomous driving concept “M vision” in computer graphic images. Autonomous vehicles were able to recognize pedestrians walking and riding on bicycles and communicated with them using the lights attached on the front part of the vehicle. The autonomous driving kit, consisting of four LiDAR sensors, which identify space information, and the five multifunction camera sensors, sits at the heart of M Vision. When the kit is attached on the roof of the vehicle, the car become capable of recognizing its surroundings. “When the kit is attached on the car, it becomes capable of applying autonomous driving regardless of the size and design of vehicles,” explained an employee at Hyundai Mobis.

Swiss deep-tech startup company WayRayhas unveiled "hologram augmented reality navigation" technology. Based on this technology, the moving direction, speed and other information are displayed on the windscreen. Hyundai Motor has invested in WayRay to expedite the development of holographic augmented reality (AR) navigation systems for future vehicles.

German automaker Audi received acclamation from visitors by presenting an experience like a "3D seat" feature at movie theaters.


Hyoun-Soo Kim kimhs@donga.com