Flying cars, robot ice-cream: The weird and wonderful tech on show in Las Vegas

The world’s largest consumer electronics show is in full swing, with more than 100,000 attendees descending on Las Vegas to be wowed by all the innovations coming in 2024 (and some that will never see the light of day). OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman may not be here, but AI has been the clear dominant theme of the show to date, with ChatGPT set to make its way into your home, as well as your car. The CES show floor is filled with weird, wacky and downright unbelievable inventions: here are some of our favourites.

The CES typically doubles as a preview of how tech giants and startups will market their wares in the coming year and if early announcements are any indication, AI-branded products will become the new smart gadgets of 2024. Credit: Bloomberg Flying cars A futuristic concept that was once only possible in The Jetsons , flying cars are taking up a lot of attention – and physical real estate – on the show floor in Las Vegas. Asia’s largest flying car manufacturer, XPeng Aeroht, has shown off its new flying car that could be legitimately described as half helicopter, half car.

Designed to help avoid traffic and navigate through congested areas, the company’s eVTOL Flying Car can handle either land or air travel and boasts a four-arm system with eight coaxially mounted propellers. It doesn’t yet have a release date but – on the show floor at least – the vehicle seemed very real. Asia’s largest flying car manufacturer, XPeng Aeroht, has shown off its new flying car at CES in Las Vegas.

Credit: David Swan. “With its elegant fusion of design and technology, this vehicle offers the look, feel, and driving experience of a supercar, but can transition effortlessly from land to flight mode, allowing drivers to take to the air,” the company said in a statement. “In land mode, the vehicle seamlessly folds its flying components for a stunning on-road appearance.

Upon switching to flight mode, it opens its arms, facilitating vertical takeoff and landing. ” The company also showed off a “Land Aircraft Carrier”, a six-wheel-drive, grey panel van that houses a two-seat eVTOL multicopter in the back. In Australia, local start-up AMSL Aero, run by husband and wife team Andrew Moore and Siobhan Lyndon, is busy working on its fleet of flying cars that the company says will initially target healthcare services, helping rural Australians access hospitals faster.

Robot-made ice-cream Australians are fond of their pod coffee machines, and ColdSnap is readying its range of innovative ice-cream makers for launch in 2025. There’s a good reason that the ColdSnap booth has been one of the most popular on the show floor, even despite temperatures in Las Vegas nearing zero outside. ColdSnap showed off its pod-based ice cream machines at CES in Las Vegas.

ColdSnap’s counter-top ice-cream makers use pods – which are about the size of a Red Bull can – combined with room-temperature liquid to churn out freshly made ice-cream in as little as two minutes, and the result is just as delicious as what you might get from your local gelateria. The appliances are rolling out to homes next year but will be available to restaurants this year, and can also make coffee drinks and smoothies. Hisense’s laser TVs Electronics giant Hisense has been building its reputation for high-quality and relatively inexpensive 4K TVs, but it’s the company’s new range of laser TVs that has raised eyebrows on the CES show floor.

If you’re a size junkie you might be interested in looking at laser TVs – laser-powered ultra-short throw (UST) projectors – that can produce images up to a whopping 300 inches. Hisense says its new rollable laser TV is ideal for bright Australian households, given it features an ambient light rejecting screen, and the ability for the screen to roll down when it’s not being used. The company also showed off what it says is the world’s first 8K Sonic Screen laser TV, boasting some 3 million pixels for 8K picture quality on a sound-emitting screen.

It also confirmed the C1 portable mini projector is coming to Australia – a device that can project an image anywhere between 65 and 300 inches in size at 4K resolution. The Hisense booth during the 2024 CES event in Las Vegas. Credit: Bloomberg The company is confident that more and more households will be opting for laser TVs, which can be easily moved from a living room to an outdoor deck for a movie night, for example.

“From short-throw to long-throw technology, through to the versatility and portability of our new C1, there is a solution for every home,” Hisense’s head of marketing for Australia and New Zealand, Gideon Lui, said. “Hisense isn’t just a participant in the laser category globally, we are the pioneer in this technology. ” Loading Aside from the laser TVs, Hisense has also updated its core mini-LED TV range, which will receive some major upgrades this year, including a new solar remote for its three leading models, as well as 144Hz native refresh rate for a clearer image.

Hisense’s proprietary TV operating system, VIDAA, will also this year be rolled out across its full TV range. LG’s smart home AI agent Taking another cue from The Jetsons is South Korean tech giant LG, which used CES to introduce a walking, talking AI robot that doubles as a “home manager” and a companion. Using generative AI like the type that powers ChatGPT, LG’s home AI platform can tell if you might be sick by listening to changes in your voice and automatically send a letter to your doctor to book an appointment.

It can also monitor pets or unattended children. Lee Hyang-eun, vice president in charge of customer experience in LG’s home appliances division, said that AI agent, dubbed Q9, will have a wide and expanding number of use cases across the home. “I know some people are quite sceptical .

. . but the home agent is an open platform.

So it can be a conversational friend for elderly people who are staying at home alone, or it can be a private tutor for the kids,” she said. LG’s smart home AI agent at CES in Las Vegas. Credit: David Swan “And in terms of security, it’s using on-device security, so it’s saving the data on the device, and as soon as the data is being collected on the device, it’s encrypted and locked from any outside intruders.

” Volkswagen has also announced that its vehicles will be able to converse with drivers via ChatGPT by the middle of this year. Samsung’s Ballie assistant at CES in Las Vegas. Samsung’s companion robot Ballie Also offering an AI-powered robot is Samsung, which first introduced Ballie in 2020.

A roving guard dog of sorts, the little yellow companion can send video updates of pets or loved ones to users’ devices when they’re away from home. Ballie also has an in-built projector, meaning it can project workout videos on the wall or floor, while playing music from its in-built speaker. “By connecting to and managing home appliances, Ballie can provide a helping hand to users in many situations — continually learning from users’ patterns and habits to provide smarter, more personalised services,” the company said in a press statement.

“Ballie makes life at home more productive and enjoyable. ” Although Samsung first revealed the companion in 2020, it still hasn’t yet received a price tag or a release date, so we’ll see if 2024 is the year for Ballie. Movano’s Evie smart ring for women The Evie smart ring was on show at CES in Las Vegas.

CES is a place for companies to show off conceptual devices just as much as products that are actually available to buy. The Evie ring is firmly in the latter category, and is available for consumers to purchase now. Designed as a smart ring for women’s health, Evie offers medical-grade sensors to help track menstrual cycles and sleep, along with a companion app to power AI-based insights based on correlations between menstrual health, hormones, energy, sleep, and activity.

In a world where tech is becoming increasingly complicated and finicky, Evie seems like a decidedly simple – and elegant – female-focussed innovation. David Swan travelled to Las Vegas as a guest of Hisense. The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion.

Sign up to get it every weekday morning . Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. License this article Gadgets For subscribers AI Las Vegas David Swan is the Technology Editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

He was previously Technology Editor for The Australian newspaper. Connect via Twitter or email . Most Viewed in Technology Loading.