The skeptical tech press in 2007 couldn't seem to understand what Fields, who then ran Ford businesses throughout the Americas, was doing at a show known for cutting-edge phones and video games, he said. Coming from old industry, he jokes that they asked "why aren't your knuckles dragging across the floor?"
Now cars are among the main attractions at the International CES that opens Jan. 6 featuring vehicles with touchscreen dashboards and others controlled by smartwatches. Fields is making a triumphant return as Ford's chief executive officer, where he'll deliver a speech about the dawn of the connected-car era. Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche will be there, too, discussing the latest concept of a self-driving Mercedes- Benz. They join a record 10 automakers showing their wares on an exhibit space the size of three football fields.
"CES has become a major launch point for a lot of the big automakers," said Mark Boyadjis, technology analyst for researcher IHS in Minnetonka, Minnesota. "CES is a way for them to get on a global stage for technology."
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