i3 - March/April 2019 - 23

S M A RT C I T I E S

at CES 2019
CES 2019 drew companies focused on
5G, IoT and transportation to plan the
next-generation of smart city innovation.
The Smart Cities Marketplace at CES,
brought together 70 companies that
showcased the latest in mobility, big
data, self-driving tech, sustainability,
health and public safety. Startups
included vehicle cybersecurity company
Karamba Security; "Vehicle as a Service"
creator Autofleet; LiDAR developer
Ouster; smart padlock maker Tapplock;
and many more. Other heavy-hitting
companies such as Ford, Baidu and
Bosch showcased how their

technologies create more impactful
smart cities. Bell even debuted a fullsized, drone-like flying car this year, and
envisions a ridesharing system using it
once smart cities are ready.
CES 2019 was the gathering place for
major players in the smart cities industry
and many participated on a plethora of
panels. Experts discussed how the public
and private worlds can work together and
use technology to influence urban sustainability, public safety, blockchain
usage and even develop "air taxis."
Speakers included panelists from
McKinsey Global Institute, Qualcomm

and IBM, as well as Baltimore mayor
Catherine E. Pugh who spoke about her
city's use of tech to improve public safety
and disaster recovery.
At Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg's CES
keynote, he discussed the telecom company's plan to provide the first commercial
5G broadband internet service, enabling
smart city perks such as remote-controlled commercial drones and high-speed
internet. "The pace of technological
changes in the past decade has been fast,"
Vestberg said. "The only thing we know
for sure is that it's going to be even faster
in the future."

networked economy being pushed simultaneously by companies like Uber and Airbnb.
It's not far fetched to expect delivery bots in
smart cities around the country in the coming
years. McKinsey predicts that autonomous
vehicles and delivery bots will make up 85 percent of last-mile deliveries by 2025. These are
developments that are already happening in
Asia and throughout Europe. The big question
is when these innovations will become the
norm in major U.S. cities.
"The history of progress in America is investment in infrastructure," says Smart Cities' Berst.
One hundred and fifty years ago it was the
transcontinental railroad - and 50 years later
it was paving highways, and even into the 1950s
and 60s, it was all about creating an interstate
with connected freeways. Berst says that cities
that opted out of these major innovations, simply put, "withered and died."
He says the same is true of tech innovations.
Cities that choose not to invest now will miss
out on attracting business, talent and building
stronger and smarter tech-driven economies
that enhance the lives of their citizens.
As such, Brest says a similar dedication to
infrastructure needs to exist when it comes to
building smarter cities in the U.S. It requires
not only a financial and time investment, but
also a change in mindset and the way we think
about the evolution of urban life.
"The early days of smart cities was about getting a cool idea and going out and building it,"
Berst says. "If we don't get there early, we will
always be catching up." 
C TA . t e c h / i 3

MARCH/APRIL 2019

23
https://www.cta.tech/
i3 - March/April 2019

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