Technology will not just help us communicate better and give us bolder and brighter screens. It is promising to end urban congestion, treat cancer and depression, and help us live fitter and more productive lives.

As tech industry players large and small converge for the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, an overriding theme is that gizmos, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and super-fast internet connections hold answers to many if not all ills — the new religion.

One of the world’s largest trade shows, CES is drawing an expected 170,000 people and 40,000 exhibitors from dozens of countries showing wares in robotics, digital health, artificial intelligence, sports and more.

New cars being shown, CES participants are being told, will help the environment and reduce congestion by making transportation “smarter” with autonomy and machine learning.

People are called on to envision a world without struggles to find parking or petrol stations, instead summon self-driving cars as desired to be taxied to destinations at any time of the day.

Inside cars, the range of online offerings could be worshipped while machines tend to the tedium of traffic, which would be smoother since vehicles would wirelessly “talk” to one another to optimize travel efficiency.

A new “intuitive and intelligent” car from Chinese startup Byton aims to tackle the billions of hours lost to traffic congestion around the world each year.

Those times lost “could be used for things which are so much more fulfilling,” Henrik Wenders, vice president of Byton, said Sunday at one of the first media events at the show.

– Digital doctoring –

Robin Raskin, who heads the CES segment called Living in Digital Times, said the advances in health and medicine in recent years has been breathtaking.

“There are new technologies to assess cancer and find out how a particular drug might respond,” she said.

Startups and major firms are using new apps and technologies to tackle diabetes and depression.

One startup on Sunday unveiled eye-tracking technology to help assess autism, concussions, Parkinsons disease and other ailments.

RightEye co-founder and chief executive Adam Gross heralded the technology as “a game-changer” for the health care and sports industries due to its unprecedented ability to quickly and accurately generate “amazing insights” about health, vision and performance.

In collaboration with doctors or trainers, the information could be used to guide therapies or exercise routines.

“The potential for this technology to change people’s lives around the world is incredible and really exciting,” Gross said.

Technology will automate and augment the treatment of disease in the years ahead, forecast Consumer Technology Association research manager Lesley Rohrbaugh.

“You can talk with a health care provider through an app, and get remote monitoring,” Rohrbaugh said while discussing consumer electronics industry trends at CES.

“You can visit your doctor without actually physically visiting them.”

Virtual reality is also being incorporated into therapy, being used to treat traumas, phobias and even dementia due to aging, according to Rohrbaugh.

– Cities smarten up –

And as the majority of the world’s population takes to living in urban areas, technology is powering “smart cities” where sensors, cameras, cloud computing and more work like house elves to manage recycling, trash disposal, traffic, pollution, road repairs and other needs.

“Smart cities are where society and technology come together,” Rohrbaugh said.

In the US smart cities focus on traffic, while in Europe the focuses tend to be on the environment and energy use, according to the research manager.

Inside homes, devices can make sure our water and air are clean, and we are sleeping well.

Technology is also being turned to keep us safe as we use technology.

Biometrics such as fingerprint, iris or face recognition is being built into smartphones, computers, padlocks as security features.

Meanwhile, robots are being designed to patrol oceans for fish poachers and watch after us, especially as we succumb to age.

The chief designer of China’s space labouratories has denied Western media reports that the nation’s Tiangong I space lab was “out of control” and will crash land, according to Science and Technology Daily.

Zhu Zongpeng, a senior scientist with the China Academy of Space Technology, which has built the Tiangong series, told the Beijing newspaper that Chinese scientists are constantly monitoring Tiangong I and will “make it fall back to the Earth” in the first half of this year.

Parts of the spacecraft will burn out during re-entry, while the rest will fall into a designated area of the ocean without endangering people and property on the ground, he said.

The latest announcement on Tiangong I, published on the China Manned Space Agency’s website, said the space lab operated in an orbit with an average altitude of 286.5 kilometres from Dec 17 to 24, noting it was “in stable condition without any abnormalities”.

Pang Zhihao, a researcher of human space activity at the academy, told the newspaper that China has rich experience in steering retired spacecraft back to Earth. He said most parts of Tiangong I will burn up as the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere.

The 8.5-metric-ton Tiangong I, the country’s first space lab, was launched atop a Long March 2F carrier rocket at Jiuquan Satellite Launch centre in northwestern China in September 2011. With a designated life span of two years, the spacecraft was in service for four and a half years before its retirement was announced by the Chinese space authorities in March 2016.

During its operation, the space lab conducted six automatic and astronaut-controlled dockings with the nation’s Shenzhou VIII, Shenzhou IX and Shenzhou X spacecraft.

A number of Western media have been speculating since 2016 that Tiangong I is “out of control” and that there is possibility of it crashing onto land with “remaining toxic fuel”.

In a note sent in May by China’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Vienna to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Chinese space authorities said Tiangong I’s operational orbit is under constant and close surveillance.

“According to the calculations and analysis that have been carried out, most of the structural components of Tiangong I will be destroyed as they burn up during the course of re-entry,” it read. “The probability of endangering and causing damage to aviation and ground activities is very low.”

Krzanich took the unusual step of addressing the security issue as he delivered a keynote ahead of the opening of the huge Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, an industry event expected to draw some 180,000 people from the sector.

As yet, Krzanich said, there is no information to suggest any loss of data from the so-called Meltdown and Spectre flaws and he added, “We are working tirelessly to make sure it stays that way.”

The Intel chief executive made his most high-profile public comments since the release of research highlighting vulnerabilities affecting the chips powering most modern PCs and many mobile devices.

“The collaboration of so many companies (to mitigate the threat) is truly remarkable,” Krzanich said.

“Security is job number one for Intel and our industry. The primary focus of our discussions (on this issue) is to keep our customers data safe.”

Researchers at Google showed how a hacker could exploit the flaw to get passwords, encryption codes and more, even though there have been no reports of any attacks using the vulnerability.

Some analysts have warned that the threat is unique because it is an issue affecting hardware used in many computing systems.

Krzanich said updates will be available for 90 percent of its products in the coming days and the for the rest by the end of January, and urged all computer users to update as quickly as possible.

Samsung, LG Electronics, Panasonic and others touted a future in which homes, cars and pockets brim with technology that collaborates to make lives easier.

Google and Amazon are key players in the trend, with their rival Assistant and Alexa voice-commanded virtual aides being woven deeper into consumer electronics and vehicles. Samsung meanwhile is playing catch-up with its Bixby assistant.

“The biggest theme is the fight for the connected home between Google and Amazon,” Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said during a day of back-to-back CES press briefings.

“The notion that there is this new layer that can replace apps and operating systems means the stakes are high.”

If voice-commanded assistants become the new norm for interacting with computers and the internet, being the virtual aide of choice could be a powerful and profitable position.

“Competition is heating up for the smart assistant ecosystem, and the question is who is going to be the smart assistant of choice in 2018,” Gartner analyst Brian Blau told AFP at CES.

Apple and Google have big leads, since their rival digital assistants are already on millions of smartphones and computers, according to Blau.

“That is why Amazon is being so aggressive; they need millions of more endpoints for Alexa in people’s hands,” Blau said.

“The loser, if any, is Cortana, because nobody is talking about them,” he added, referring to Microsoft’s digital assistant.

But, Moorhead countered, Microsoft is likely playing to its strength by angling to be the dominant digital assistant in workplaces and Cortana is already on some half a billion computers powered by Windows 10 software.

– LG robot snub –

Consumer electronics titan LG proclaimed this year a “tipping point” for smart homes during a press event that featured an ignoble on-stage fail.

A cute, table-top smart hub called CLOi went awry, with the voice-commanded, small snow-person shaped device quickly ignoring an LG executive.

“CLOi doesn’t like me evidently,” quipped LG US marketing vice president David VanderWaal.

“Even robots have bad days.”

Such moments are playfully referred to as “the curse of the live demo” in Silicon Valley.

LG is developing technology designed to enable its appliances, televisions and other devices adapt to users and collaborate to handle tasks.

The AI platform is “open” to utilizing software made by other companies, LG chief technology officer I.P. Park said.

“The world has become just too complex for just any single company to insist on a proprietary, closed solution,” Park said.

LG collaborators include Google and Alexa creator Amazon, according to the South Korea-based consumer electronics titan.

Google Assistant is being integrated into LG products including televisions, headphones and smart speakers.

“Our goal at Google is to help people get things done in a natural, seamless way,” Google Assistant vice president of engineering Scott Huffman said.

Interacting with computers by speaking has proven a hit, and the ability of virtual aids to converse with people is expected to improve quickly, according to researchers from the Consumer Technology Association behind the annual CES gathering.

A LG ThinQ speaker with Google Assistant will be available in the “coming months,” according to Huffman.

LG’s vision for its artificial intelligence platform includes enabling appliances, cars, air conditioners and other “everyday” devices to adapt to users’ individual preferences as well as collaborate on tasks.

“Our products will learn from users to provide intelligent services, not the other way around,” Park said.

“You won’t have to study instruction manuals any more.”

– Bixby branches out –

Samsung Electronics used its press event to extol the South Korean company’s strategy of making its broad array of offerings connected and enhancing them with digital brains of Bixby virtual assistant.

“Televisions, refrigerators and more will understand you and your preferences, and tailor an experience that is right for you,” said Samsung global consumer electronics president H.S. Kim.

A new SmartThings application to be released by mid-year will consolidate command of Samsung devices and be a “remote control for your connected life,” Kim said.

Samsung is investing in improving Bixby so that it “intuitively understands you and figures out what you need before you ask,” according to Kim.

Samsung televisions sold in the US will have Bixby to respond to spoken requests or control other home devices.

Bixby was also being built into a “family hub” smart system in Samsung refrigerators with large touch-screens on doors.

Panasonic announcements included that it is working with Amazon to build Alexa smart assistant into “infotainment” systems it sells to carmakers.

“Alexa can help customers with thousands of things in the car — navigation, music, audiobooks and more,” said Alexa automotive vice president Ned Curic.

“This is a big step toward bringing Alexa to customers wherever they might need her, whether they’re at home or on-the-go.”

Panasonic also collaborates with Google to build Assistant smarts into some of its products.

After adding @flightbot as a friend, people can ask the bot anything related to air travel booking. Share the dates, departure city and destination, and @flightbot will search for the flights with the best prices.

Customers can complete the transaction and make a secure payment all within the @flightbot chat. And the more people use the bot, the better it is at understanding them and the better it will be at communicating.

Simon Akeroyd, vice president, corporate strategy and business development, Amadeus Asia Pacific said that the flights people can see and buy on @flightbot are made available from a variety of travel agents.

“Consumers who use @flightbot will be able to choose from a pool of flights with the touch of a button all through their favourite messaging platform,” he said. “@flightbot is available 24/7, so people can search for and buy flights whenever inspiration for travel strikes.”

Akeroyd said @flightbot was created as part of the Amadeus commitment to innovation in travel in Asia-Pacific. When people interact with @flightbot, they are getting direct access to Amadeus content and technology.

The result is a quick, convenient, smart form of flight research and booking that is available around the clock.

In Thailand, Line has more than 33 million users spending an average of 70 minutes a day on the platform, making it a natural place for Amadeus to begin the @flightbot pilot project.

“Many people in Asia are deeply engaged with messaging platforms on mobile devices and so we believe that @flightbot is a very useful tool for travellers and travel agents,” said Akeroyd.

“But we are still in pilot mode, so do share any feedback. We are excited to see @flightbot reach its full potential to bring travel agents and travellers in Thailand all the benefits of technology.”

The Japanese auto giant’s president Akio Toyoda unveiled the new initiative at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, seeking to get ahead of rivals offering single-use autonomous transporters.

The “e-Palette” vehicle platform features a boxy electric-powered minibus designed to handle deliveries or even bring retail services to consumers, but can also be used for ridesharing and other purposes.

“It is a flexible platform that can be adapted to a range of services,” Toyoda said, including ridesharing, retail, medical services or entertainment.

The media demonstration showed how the vehicle could deliver packages or even enable consumers to try on shoes or apparel.

The new initiative is part of an effort to transform Toyota from an automaker to a multifaceted “mobility” company, Toyoda said.

Partners in the project, which is set to be deployed “in the early 2020s,” include Amazon, Uber, Pizza Hut and China-based Didi. Rival Japanese automaker Mazda will also participate in development.

The company said it hopes to showcase the technology at the 2020 Olympics in Japan.

Internet search giant Baidu Inc said on Tuesday that it is working with Access Services, a US-based public paratransit services provider to launch a self-driving pilot project in Los Angeles by the end of this year, as the tech behemoth accelerated its expansion in overseas markets.

The project is set to provide short route self-driving vehicle services for persons with disabilities and senior citizen communities, said the company at the Consumer Electronics Show 2018 in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Baidu and Singapore technology conglomerate Asia Mobility Industries unveiled a joint venture and a newly established $200 million fund to promote the commercialization of Baidu’s autonomous driving technologies in Southeast Asia.

The fund aims to upgrade existing transportation infrastructure and further smart mobility research and development regionally. In addition, strategic partners in this region are also expected to participate in Apollo, Baidu’s open autonomous driving platform.

The tech giant also announced Apollo 2.0 for simple urban road conditions, strengthened tie-ups with its 90 partners including Microsoft Corp, Udacity and TomTom, which will integrate its global HD mapping service into the Apollo platform.

“Apollo is from China, but is becoming increasingly global and in the future it will cooperate with even more overseas regions,” said Zhang Yaqin, president of Baidu.

It launched the Apollo Global Institute, in a bid to further promote the growth of global autonomous driving talent by leveraging Baidu’s technology centres in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Silicon Valley and Seattle.

China expects smart cars with partial or fully autonomous functions to account for 50 per cent of new vehicles sold in the country by 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, said on Friday.

The government will accelerate the drafting of regulations for public road tests of self-driving and revise the current road safety regulations when conditions are mature.

Beijing released the country’s first guideline on road tests of autonomous vehicles last December.

“Baidu is expanding its global alliance with an aim to make Apollo ultimately a globally compatible platform with different cars from different manufacturers,” said Karen Chan, an equity analyst at Jefferies Hong Kong.

The company has been heavily investing in self-driving technologies. It said it would mass-produce driverless buses for designated areas by the end of July with Chinese bus manufacturer Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co.

It also received permission from authorities in California to test its autonomous driving technologies in the state in 2016, and opened its second United States R&D facility in California in October.

In its first year, the fund expects to invest up to $200 million in start-ups and open innovation partnerships with technology entrepreneurs focused on new mobility, including vehicle electrification, autonomous systems, connectivity and artificial intelligence.

With further annual investments, Alliance Ventures is set to become the largest corporate venture capital fund in the automotive industry over the period of Alliance 2022, the strategic midterm plan launched last year by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.

Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive officer of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, said that with the open innovation approach, they will invest and collaborate with start-up companies and technology entrepreneurs, who will benefit from the global scale of the alliance. This new fund reflects the collaborative spirit and entrepreneurial mind-set at the heart of the alliance, he said.

The new fund is unique because it offers potential partners access to the global scale and scope of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, which sold more than 10 million vehicles in 2017 through 10 separate brands with a presence in all major automotive markets.

Alliance Ventures will invest in start-ups to bring new technologies and businesses to the alliance while ensuring a fair financial return. The fund will make strategic investments at all start-up stages and will incubate both new automotive entrepreneurs and forge new partnerships, Ghosn said.

Around 3,900 exhibitors from across the world are expected to show off their innovative products to more than 170,000 visitors at the event this year.

From smart home appliances to robots, from 3D printing to driverless vehicles, breakthrough technologies of all aspects in the consumer electronics industry will be introduced to the world through the show.

The event will continue through Friday.

Let’s sneak a peek at the show.

The Bellus3D Inc’s Face Camera Pro performs a three-dimensional (3D) scan of an attendee’s face during the CES Unveiled event in Las Vegas on Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

The Toyota Motor Corp’s e-Palette concept vehicle is displayed during the company’s press conference at the CES in Las Vegas, on Jan 8, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A Magik augmented reality toothbrush for children by Kolibree is displayed during CES Unveiled in Las Vegas, on January 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Debbie Cohen-Abravanel, CMO at FoldiMate, takes folded laundry from a FoldiMate automatic laundry folding machine, during CES Unveiled in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A woman demonstrates the features of a Care OS smart health and beauty hub in a mirror, during CES Unveiled in Las Vegas, on January 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Jay Yi (L) and Steven Kim demonstrate a Mars ear-to-ear translator developed by Orfeo Soundworks Inc during the CES in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Melomind, a pair of headset that comes with four electroencephalographic sensors to track activity of human’s brain, is displayed during a press event at CES in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

John Cummins, sales and marketing senior vice-president for DisplayLink, demonstrates the company’s DisplayLink XR reference design with a wireless virtual reality game during CES Unveiled in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Buddy, an entertainment and assistant robot developed by Blue Frog Robotics, interacts with an attendee during CES Unveiled in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A R-PUR anti-pollution mask, which can filter out particles as small as pm 0.4 microns, is displayed during CES Unveiled in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

E-vone smart shoes with falling alert are displayed at CES Unveiled in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Byton’s CEO Carsten Breitfeld speaks during the announcement of a smart intuitive vehicle concept car at the CES in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A Catspad smart pet assistant is displayed at CES Unveiled in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp, holds a Nvidia Titan V supercomputer made for developers as he speaks during an event at the CES in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A GDU O2 3-axis gimbal, 4K video compact folding drone and controller are displayed at CES Unveiled Las Vegas, on Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

The LG Electronics Inc Cloi Serving Robot, from left, Porter Robot, and Shopping Cart Robot are unveiled during the company’s press conference at the CES in Las Vegas, on Jan 8, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Samsung debuts a 146-inch modular TV called “The Wall” at the CES in Las Vegas, Jan 7, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

LG Electronics is developing technology designed to enable its appliances, televisions and other devices adapt to users and collaborate to handle tasks.

The AI platform is “open” to utilizing software made by other companies, LG chief technology officer I.P. Park said during a press event on the eve of the official opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

“The world has become just too complex for just any single company to insist on a proprietary, closed solution,” Park said.

LG collaborators include Google and Alexa creator Amazon, according to the South Korea-based consumer electronics titan.

“2018 will be the tipping point for the smart home and, more important, for the smart connected lifestyle,” LG US marketing vice president David Vanderwaal said.

Google Assistant is being integrated into LG products including televisions, headphones and smart speakers, Park said.

“Our goal at Google is to help people get things done in a natural, seamless way,” Google Assistant vice president of engineering Scott Huffman said.

Interacting with computers by speaking has proven a hit, and the ability of virtual aids to converse with people is expected to improve quickly, according to researchers from the Consumer Technology Association behind the annual CES gathering.

A LG ThinQ speaker with Google Assistant will be available “in coming months,” according to Huffman.

Robotic room service

LG’s vision for its artificial intelligence platform includes enabling appliances, cars, air conditioners and other “everyday” devices to adapt to users’ individual preferences as well as collaborate on tasks.

“Our products will learn from users to provide intelligent services, not the other way around,” Park said.

“You won’t have to study instruction manuals any more.”

An on stage-demo of the cute, table-top smart hub device called CLOi went awry though, with the voice-commanded device quickly ignoring the words of an LG executive.

“CLOi doesn’t like me evidently,”quipped LG US marketing vice president David VanderWaal.

“Even robots have bad days.”

Such moments are playfully referred to as “the curse of the live demo” in Silicon Valley.

LG is working on more and smarter robots, showing off concept models crafted to serve as hotel porters, deliver room service meals, or function as shopping carts complete with check-out capabilities.

Panasonic announcements on the eve of CES included that it is working with Amazon to build Alexa smart assistant into “infotainment” systems it sells to car makers.

Panasonic planned to deliver Alexa voice command capabilities in cars, with some available even without internet connectivity.

The Alexa Onboard technology integrated into Panasonic Skip Gen technology will bring voice functionality for in-car users, and for the first time, offer certain select Alexa capabilities without an Internet connection.

“Alexa can help customers with thousands of things in the car – navigation, music, audiobooks and more,” said Alexa automotive vice president Ned Curic.

“This is a big step toward bringing Alexa to customers wherever they might need her, whether they’re at home or on-the-go.”

Panasonic also collaborates with Google to build Assistant smarts into some of its products.

Fight for homes

“The biggest theme is the fight for the connected home between Google and Amazon,” Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said during a day of back-to-back CES press briefings.

“The notion that there is this new layer that can replace apps and operating systems means the stakes are high.”

If voice-commanded assistants become the new norm for interacting with computers and the internet, being the virtual aide of choice could be a powerful and profitable position.

“Competition is heating up for the smart assistant ecosystem, and the question is who is going to be the smart assistant of choice in 2018,” Gartner analyst Brian Blau told AFP at CES.

Apple and Google have big leads in the race, since their rival digital assistants are already on millions of smartphones and computers, according to Blau.

“That is why Amazon is being so aggressive; they need millions of more endpoints for Cortana in people’s hands,” Blau said.

“The loser, if any, is Cortana because nobody is talking about them,” he added, referring to Microsoft’s digital assistant.

But, Moorhead countered, Microsoft is likely playing to its strength by angling to be the dominant digital assistant in workplaces and Cortana is already on some half a billion computers powered by Windows 10 software.

“The industry is making strides, but we are a long way away from having everything in your house work together,” Moorhead said.