MICROSOFT AT CES 2023: 5 KEY AREAS TO SUPPORT MOBILITY INNOVATION
We are excited to announce that Microsoft will be a featured exhibitor at CES 2023, taking place January 5 to 8, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and virtually. Known as the "most influential tech event in the world," CES hosts what has become the place to experience innovation in the automotive and mobility industry, with a "vehicle technology" topic area and dedicated exhibition hall specific to this space. Microsoft will present exciting representations of the future of mobility and innovation including:
> Metaverse and the future of car buying.
> Mixed reality transforming service and customer experiences.
> Connected, autonomous, and software-defined mobility.
The theme for CES 2023 is "Human Security for All" and intends to highlight how innovations in sustainability, transportation and mobility, digital health, and the metaverse are addressing the world’s greatest challenges.
In a CES Insider Look video, Sanjay Ravi, General Manager, Automotive, Mobility, and Transportation Industry, highlights some of the key disruptions, and innovations creating what he termed a "once-in-a-century transformation." The common industry goals of Connected, Autonomous, Shared mobility, and Electrification (CASE) have expanded into more impactful end goals of improving the societal, sustainability, and safety impact of mobility and improving the interactive and connected experiences that make our daily lives more productive and enjoyable.
Microsoft is working closely with our customers, partners, and the community and enabling them to drive the future of mobility. Data and AI are playing an increasing role in mobility. In a recent podcast interview, Sanjay talked with Alex Kendall, CEO of Wayve, who is advancing the safety and testing of autonomous vehicle technology using AI.
Transportation and aviation also featured at CES, are navigating their own roadmap to the future with a keen focus on sustainability. Contributing to more than one-third of all carbon emissions globally, we see nearly all players finding unique ways to reduce this impact, including an Alaska Airlines and Microsoft partnership to help the advancement of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in key routes. Along with our customers and partners, we highlight our own emphasis on sustainability to be carbon negative by 2030, and by 2050 to remove our historical emissions since our founding in 1975. In addition, Microsoft is helping our customers fulfill their sustainability mission with Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.
Innovation must lead from trust, data sovereignty, and cybersecurity and these are the core foundations at the center of empowerment for our customers and partners. Over the next five years, we are investing more than USD20 billion to continue the expansion of our cybersecurity capabilities, an imperative in our increasingly connected world.
Microsoft at CES 2023
The Microsoft CES theme of "Drive the future of mobility" embodies our vision to empower—not compete with—the industry to shape our mobility future. It is often out of duress that innovation sparks and grows. And there’s no doubt that the larger global ecosystem is under great pressure from both macro and micro influences. Organizations and individuals are having to do more when more may not always be readily available.
But as we’ve seen, the human resolve is strong and perhaps more vibrant than ever given our recent challenges. Part of the CES mission is to expose this resolve and technical prowess to the world as innovation will power us forward. Once again, we join the global community to showcase and celebrate the impact of innovation in automotive, mobility, and transportation at CES.
Subject to modifications, we are supporting these industry endeavors across five key areas:
1. Empowered Organization
To lead external transformation, organizations must first transform internally. The pandemic created unique opportunities to improve inter and intra-organizational productivity, ushering in an opportunity to drive efficiencies through a diverse, inclusive, and hybrid workforce. Here we will showcase the impact these trends have on accelerating transformation of productivity, frontline workers, citizen development, and most importantly, security.
Key showcase:
> Lynk & Co.: Improving enterprise efficiency isn’t the only area of focus companies have. That efficiency is now extended to the vehicle and leveraged through Microsoft Teams to bring on-the-go, safe, and efficient productivity integration while keeping eyes on the road.
2. Resilient Operations
We have all been directly impacted by the vital links to a global supply chain and operations. Whether as a consumer, supplier, or someplace in between, improving operations is a key focus. Companies must find ways to create sustainable, agile, and collaborative supply chains that improve visibility and resilience. Many may not know that Microsoft operates a significant global manufacturing and supply chain operation. That experience along with our partner ecosystem has enabled our customers to drive rapid transformation in operations.
Key showcase:
> Creating resilient, sustainable supply chains with Microsoft Supply Chain Platform.
> Powering the future of electric vehicles (EVs) with Rockwell and advanced battery technology leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT), mixed reality, and product lifestyle management (PLM) integration to power the electrification of mobility.
> Factory supply chain transformation with PwC and ZF and the creation of the ZF cloud in partnership with Microsoft as a platform for innovation across factories, products, and services.
3. Accelerate Innovation
At the core of transformation is the need to innovate. Disruptions impacting the industry have created a sense of urgency creating rapid transformation opportunities that are truly moving the industry forward at a rapid pace in many areas.
Here we highlight:
> Autonomous simulation with Ansys and Applied Intuition enables advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles (AV) engineering and product teams to safely develop, test, and deploy autonomous vehicles at scale.
> AI, cognitive services, and the future of in-car interactions with General Motors (with the all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ in-car demonstration at the General Motors booth).
> Developing the future of software-defined vehicles with Eclipse Foundation.
4. Customer Experience
A benefit of transformation at its core is creating engaging experiences that build long-term value for the customer. After all, the customer is the ultimate beneficiary of technological advances in mobility. Whether it is integration with entertainment, productivity, sales, or service—opportunities are being created that offer unique, connected, and immersive experiences.
Examples include:
> Re-imagine the car-buying experience with the Fiat Metaverse Store supported by a Fiat 500e on display with an interactive, digital customer purchase experience powered by Touchcast, Annata, and Sitecore.
> Revolutionizing the end-to-end automotive retail ecosystem with Tekion.
5. Mobility Services
Traditional automotive, transportation, and logistics providers see themselves as part of a larger mobility ecosystem, not just creators of a product to move throughout it. Mobility is vibrant with blurred lines between old and new business models, and the creation of entirely new categories that address the future needs for the movement of people and goods.
A significant enabler of mobility services is the introduction of Microsoft Connect Fleets. A new reference architecture that creates an interconnected ecosystem of partners and makes use of common architecture, data models, and business applications from the Microsoft Cloud. Look for this announcement at CES and visit the booth to learn more.
Here we represent:
> Turning connected vehicle data intelligence into actionable insights and business system integration for efficient fleet management operations with Connected Fleets, a Microsoft reference architecture. Learn how Accenture utilized Connected Fleets with the campus Connector transportation system at Microsoft campus headquarters to improve mobility options and efficiency.
> Enhanced visibility of vehicle data and insights through Connected Cars and Wejo, offering insights from more than 13 million active vehicles and 18 trillion data points.
> EV charging management as demonstrated by HCLTech, enhanced by the Connected Fleets reference architecture.
Author - Aaron Lee - Product Marketing Lead – Automotive, Mobility, & Transportation, Global Industry Product Marketing Group
