Several companies announced on Thursday that they were cancelling plans to participate in person in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next month.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra was scheduled to give a Jan. 5 keynote speech at the annual event, but the auto giant issued a statement explaining that the company has “decided to move to an all-digital approach with our activation at CES 2022 in January.” It did go on to say that the planned unveiling of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and other products on January 5th will go on – though, presumably, virtually. Barra’s keynote speech will be given virtually as well.
Other companies that confirmed on Thursday they are veering away in part or in total from in-person events include Google and its autonomous-drive company Waymo, TikTok and Intel. They join Amazon, Twitter, Lenovo and AT & T, who had already made the decision to pull out.
For now, CES organizers say the show will still happen in the flesh as scheduled between January 5th and 8th, with “strong safety measures in place.” It says 42 exhibitors have pulled out in the past week, but that they account up only 7 percent of the allocated floor space, and that the vast majority of exhibitors still plan to be on-site.