The 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show will be a stage for the latest in connected car technology, featuring touchscreen dashboards, smartwatch integration and more.
"CES has become a major launch point for a lot of the big automakers," Mark Boyadjis, technology analyst for Minnesota-based researcher IHS, told Bloomberg. "CES is a way for them to get on a global stage for technology."
Recently appointed Ford CEO Mark Fields will make a speech on the rise of the connected car, while Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche will talk about a new Mercedes-Benz concept that drives itself. Ten automakers--a record for CES--will display their latest innovations at the event, which will run Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas.
Volkswagen will be part of CES for the first time, appearing along with Toyota, General Motors, Hyundai, Mazda, Audi, BMW and Fiat Chrysler.
The red-letter tech event takes up more than 2 million square feet of space and holds enough gadgets to fill 35 football fields, according to Re/code. In the last half-decade, the CES exhibit space devoted to auto-related tech has nearly doubled to around 165,000 square feet.
BMW's exhibit alone will hold more than 100 cars and take up 57,475 square feet, while Ford will have a two-story display with five vehicles--a far cry from the single Taurus the automaker displayed at its first CES five years ago.
Hyundai will feature a smartwatch that integrates with a Genesis luxury sedan to unlock or start the car with one touch of a finger.
As the auto industry heads toward self-driving cars, vehicles are becoming more like computers. Vehicle technology systems installed during production will rise 3 percent next year to become an $11.3 billion facet of the auto industry, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
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