For a trade show that’s supposed to be dedicated to consumer electronics, CES 2016 seems to be all about the automotive market, because most of what’s been unveiled so far has been about autonomous cars, connected cars, and smarts cars. Even Microsoft has been talking about nothing but cars so far, especially in regards to why it’s the best tech company for automakers to partnership with. Whereas Apple and Google are working on products that will end up turning them into direct competitors to traditional automakers, Microsoft has no such plans, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why the company considers itself to be the best partner for automakers.
When Microsoft talks about mobility, our interest is the mobility of the person, not of any single device. After all, people now want their technology experience to move with them, from place to place and device to device, at home, at work, and on the move. Nowhere is this more evident than in today’s connected cars. People expect their car’s computing power to match its horsepower. And automakers are leading the way, bringing mobility solutions to their cars to meet drivers’ changing expectations, as well as enhance safety. These automakers see their cars as technology platforms, and they are choosing Microsoft as their partner. They are choosing Microsoft because we uniquely deliver end-to-end solutions from the cloud, to the device, to predictive analytics, and do so in a way that allows all our partners to innovate on top of their existing systems. Nobody else offers this breadth and depth to the auto industry. Today from the International CES in Las Vegas, Volvo Cars, Nissan, Harman and IAV announced new details about their partnerships with Microsoft to enhance their connected car strategies. They join Toyota, Ford, Qoros, Delphi, and other companies already working with Microsoft to bring their cars into the mobile-first, cloud-first world.
