Orlando companies this week are showing off their latest innovations at the tech industry’s biggest event.
Four local companies are exhibiting from Jan. 5-7 at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association. The event drew 171,000 attendees in January 2020, but the in-person show was canceled in 2021 due to Covid-19.
While this year’s CES show features a smaller-than-usual list of exhibitors due to the pandemic, some Orlando-area companies nevertheless will be able to show off in front of attendees from around the world.
The local firms taking part include Orlando-based Luminar Technologies Inc. The developer of lidar sensors for autonomous vehicles, alongside Swedish automaker Volvo Cars, on Jan. 5 announced the upcoming launch of Volvo’s all-electric sports utility vehicle. Volvo eventually will offer autonomous highway driving capabilities as an add-on for the vehicle, with the help of Luminar (Nasdaq: LAZR) sensors. Volvo plans to begin testing the self-driving capability on California highways in the middle of the year.
“This is really the first of its kind — we're going to see this kind of life-saving technology on board a vehicle that has these capabilities, one you actually can buy that is going into the real market,” Luminar founder and CEO Austin Russell told Orlando Inno.
Luminar at CES also is unveiling an integrated systems solution that gives commercial trucks autonomous capabilities on highways. In addition, Luminar will provide live demonstrations of a vehicle’s ability to avoid a crash using lidar sensors, Russell said. “We're actually able to get any attendee into the car to be able to show how we can prove out this concept of building the ‘uncrashable car.’”
Meanwhile, Orlando-based OneRail, a 3-year-old logistics software firm with 100 employees, also is exhibiting at CES this year. OneRail plans to highlight a recent success in signing Park City, Utah-based consumer electronics firm Skullcandy Inc. as a client, as well as the expansion of OneRail’s services in 2022, CEO Bill Catania previously told Orlando Inno.
“We're going to be doing 100% of their outbound logistics from their warehouse. We think a lot of electronics companies have similar pain points to what Skullcandy does,” Catania said.
Other metro Orlando companies exhibiting at CES 2022 include Orlando-based virtual training company Disti Corp. and personal breathalyzer maker DriveSafe, which is part of Orlando-based Alcohol Countermeasure Systems Inc.
While the number of exhibiting companies this year is down to 2,200 from more than 4,400 in 2020, there is one more Orlando company exhibiting at CES this year than at the last live show in 2020. Two years ago, Luminar, DriveSafe and Orlando-based respiratory health tech startup AireHealth Inc. made the trip to Las Vegas.
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