LAS VEGAS — At the CES international tech show in Las Vegas, on display are some of the latest innovations in electric vehicles, digital health and other gadgetry — with Georgia companies among the mix.
Mercedes-Benz, which has its U.S. headquarters in Sandy Springs, announced at CES that it will build its own electric vehicle charging network.
It plans to start on a Mercedes-Benz-branded charging network in North America this year in partnership with ChargePoint and MN8 Energy, and complete it by 2027. The auto maker also plans to roll out charging networks in Europe, China and other markets.
“Our long term is around 2,000 charging sites with more than 10,000 high-powered chargers worldwide by 2027,” said Mercedes-Benz chief technology officer Markus Schäfer during remarks at CES.
The auto company offered test drives to attendees and had multiple booths with expansive displays of its vehicles and technology in the exhibit halls. CES, also known as the Consumer Electronics Show, has multiple exhibit halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Venetian Resort, with events across many other properties on the Las Vegas Strip.
At CES, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines announced the rollout of free Wi-Fi with customized in-flight entertainment for those who sign up for its SkyMiles frequent flier program.
Delta’s chief marketing officer Tim Mapes said during a fireside chat on Friday that the average Delta flight has 6 in 10 passengers who are not SkyMiles members, and the airline hopes to sign up many more of those people into its loyalty program.
Many other companies with a Georgia presence flocked to CES to show off their latest innovations for consumers, meet business partners and find potential customers.
Sebastian Arias, a serial entrepreneur in Atlanta, co-founded Cosmos Robotics with 4-foot tall robots that are retrofitted Segways to help nursing homes with remotely monitoring patients, administrative work and other tasks. He attended CES this year to meet with business partners and potential customers for the robots, with a busy dance card of meetings.
Fereydoun Taslimi, who founded Atlanta-based Sensorscall to make CareAlert smart night lights to monitor loved ones, staffed a booth at CES to meet potential business partners.
“The quality of the people you get (at CES), particularly after COVID, has increased,” Taslimi said. “The hard-core people come.”
Supersapiens, an Atlanta-based company developing a system with an app to monitor blood glucose for athletic performance, has a booth in the Eureka Park startup section of CES.
Chris Belli, chief operating officer for Supersapiens, said the traffic the company has gotten at its booth has been “nonstop.”
“I have not stopped talking since the doors opened,” Belli said.
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