CES, the trade show formerly known as The Consumer Electronics Show. It’s one of the most, if not the most, well-known trade shows in the tech world. It’s where so many of the technologies we know and love today made their debut. Everything from home media like VCRs and DVDs to futuristic tools like Oculus Rift and 3D printers got their first 15 minutes of fame at this annual Las Vegas event. For more than half a century, CES has been our first look at trends of the tech industry.
The announcements made at this year’s iteration of the show build on trends from years past and serve to cement the direction in which we’re collectively headed. There are few surprises: AI is headed even further into ubiquity, robots’ presence will grow in factories and homes and autonomous vehicles will drive down the path of progress. But CES debuts are more than simply announcements; the trade show is a window to the future, and is often the launching point for industry-defining transformations for years to come. This year’s show was no different.
The defining trends of CES 2026
The ubiquity of artificial intelligence
Once upon a time, AI was a standalone concept, often thought of solely as a chatbot users could interact with or a smart scheduler that could simplify booking meetings. Today, it’s an embedded, foundational layer in nearly every product category.
At this year’s trade show, Korean tech giant Samsung announced its own AI companions, a catch-all term for a variety of AI-infused consumer devices that can help carry out tasks such as changing laundry or identifying food that needs to be restocked in the fridge. The announcement builds on their “AI for All” initiative that debuted at CES two years ago, pointing to a continued focus on the topic. While AI has been around for decades, it’s very much moved to the front and center at CES.
On the enterprise side, Dassault Systemes’ own AI assistant, a virtual companion called AURA, is similarly embedded in products and software across sectors, infusing proprietary knowledge and data with industrial know-how. The transition from a solitary AI application to the infusion of artificial intelligence into more complex operations marks a significant shift in the approach to adopting nascent technologies that will power the future.
The rise of practical robotics
Robots were everywhere at CES, but this isn’t the first time they’ve stolen the show. For more than 20 years, robots of all shapes and sizes have taken the stage in Las Vegas, often to the cheery delight of attendees. Early robots were kind of cutesy; think of AIBO, the Sony-made robot dog that had a spot in the market from 1999 to 2006. They started to mature, slowly, and were programmed to complete more complex tasks, like playing chess.
Nowadays, they’re being developed with efficiency and optimization in mind.
This year, Boston Dynamics debuted its humanoid Atlas robot, which, come 2028, will be working as a full-time employee in Hyundai factories. Startup ReviMo also showcased the Niko lift, a robotic assistance tool for wheelchair-bound users that allows them to transfer themselves independently from their chair to a bed, toilet or couch.
The robotics industry has transitioned from producing fun toys for consumers to play with and admire to robots that are so robustly trained and intelligent, they may eventually be capable of taking on tasks traditionally performed by humans.
The acceleration of autonomous vehicles
Future jobs may be in the synthetic arms of robots, and roads might be filled with autonomous vehicles. Or at least, that’s the outlook after this year’s CES announcements.
From the Lucid-Uber-Nuro robotaxi announcement to NVIDIA’s EV-focused AI model, the message was clear: driverless cars are here to stay. Recent projections from Goldman Sachs confirm this trend, with expectations set for a compound annual growth rate of the driverless car market around 90% from 2025 to 2030.
They’re also not just increasing in number on the road. They’re becoming more experiential. Startup Cinemo debuted its concept for agentic AI-powered experiences in autonomous vehicles, encapsulating a vision-within-a-vision approach to tech. No longer are passengers simply along for the ride. Cars are becoming an extension of the home, with the embedded tech to make them feel that way.
Reshaping industries: CES trends’ impact on the decade ahead
AI and robots will be everywhere and autonomous systems will be the name of the game in the years to come. But what does all this mean in industrial terms? Laundry-sorting robots are a dream come true for many consumers, but these technologies have applications in the enterprise space that go far beyond simple tasks.
Making cutting-edge tech work at an industrial scale requires solutions that are trusted, backed by science, protected intellectually and constantly optimized and innovated. Here’s what that could look like in the near future.
Manufacturing and logistics
Manufacturing and logistics are two industries ripe for technological innovation that can streamline and optimize existing processes. Innovations like Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot are a response to the immense opportunity for robotics to optimize factory work, replacing dangerous or cumbersome tasks that humans have historically performed Outfitted with AI in the future, the opportunities here for further advancement are significant.
On their own, robotics solutions offer an imaginative take on the future of the workforce. But when coupled with virtual twins of entire factories and the processes that make them run, these innovations can take on vast new challenges. Robots can carry out rote tasks that reduce the margin of humor error and, when powered by AI, have the ability to adapt their work to perform the optimal task at the optimal time. Virtual twins powered by trusted, industrial AI can serve as the training grounds for these robots, enabling swift changes in processes that support a resilient and optimized manufacturing operation.
The use case for this is clear: the market size for digital and virtual twins in the manufacturing space is projected to grow from $21 billion in 2025 to nearly $150 billion in 2030. The demand for the virtual-first approach, coupled with the increase in robotics to help carry it out, signals great potential.
To build an unbeatable manufacturing and logistics operation, AI and robotics are the way forward. We saw a great example at CES 2026.
Transportation and mobility
The transportation and mobility products and prospects revealed at CES 2026 have cemented the industry’s move toward autonomous vehicles and systems and suggest how the future of movement will be positively … futuristic.
In any case, the future of driving is well on its way, with luxurious cabins and self-driving vehicles beginning to dominate the roads. So how will the new releases at CES transform an industry that’s already beginning to change?
Perhaps the biggest shift we’ll see in the next few years will be in the way that autonomous vehicles are programmed with more human-like reasoning. That might sound counterintuitive: the point of autonomous vehicles is that they’re distinctly not human. They’re safer, less aggressive and more reliable than humans. But up until now, they’ve behaved differently on the road than us homo sapiens, and it’s created some trouble.
Take Waymo, for example. Recently, the autonomous vehicle company changed the way their cars react to objects and scenarios on the road. The cars started behaving more erratically, passing school buses illegally, much to the chagrin of other drivers. But that same heightened aggressiveness also proved to be a positive in some respects. While previously a Waymo stuck behind a garbage truck would obey its programming to not cross a double yellow line and overtake the frequently stopping vehicle – much to the annoyance of other drivers on the road – the cars have now been trained to reasonably divert from their programming in order to complete this action.
This way of thinking mirrors NVIDIA’s CES announcement of their Alpamayo open source AI models, created specifically to help make autonomous vehicles more reasonable and humanlike on the road. There are still guardrails in place for driverless cars, to be certain, including a growing amount of legislation on top of continuous software updates from autonomous vehicle companies. Testing and virtual twin simulations of the vehicles on the road interacting with unusual circumstances will be paramount to ensuring that reasoning and safety are adequately balanced. But the future of the transportation industry might just be headed in a direction that’s simultaneously lacking humans yet maintaining a humanlike quality.
Healthcare and life sciences
While AI and robotics were some of the most noteworthy industrial trends witnessed at CES 2026, the innovations in healthcare and patient-centered technology at the show can’t be ignored. This year’s announcements echo those of years past, pointing to consumer demands for personalized, at-home medical and healthcare systems and tools.
At the nexus of AI and robotics are mobility devices like the Niko lift and the Ascentiz walking exoskeleton, which provide aid and independence. These physical tools build on innovations of the past, like laparoscopic surgeries. They also nod to the technologies to come, like surgical tools that can instantly detect cancerous cells.
If the last few years are any indication, the addition of technology into healthcare will continue to be a significant marker of progress. Virtual twins are making inroads in how drugs and medical devices are tested in clinical trials, thanks in part to a five-year collaboration between the Food and Drug Administration and Dassault Systèmes. AI-powered triaging can perfect the system in which emergency rooms are managed, sending patients to providers in the most optimal way. The patient experience could be vastly transformed, with personalized medicine shifting from an imaginative idea to a medical reality.
Dassault Systèmes already provides the technology that forms the basis of the Living Heart Project, which uses science-based virtual twins with AI integration to create digital replicas of an individual’s own heart, down to their unique anatomy and physiology. By duplicating and virtualizing a patient’s specific organs and their genetic response to certain drugs and therapies, physicians can provide a customized approach that’s more easily understood and trusted by patients and their families.
The software and hardware on display at CES this year positions the medical industry as adopters of a new approach to health that prioritizes innovative and personalized solutions that go beyond the current standard of care.
Looking toward the future of innovation
So, what does the next decade look like? Will AI be the backbone of all technological progress that leads society into a new, futuristic way of life? Will our workplaces be redefined as spaces of coexistence between digital and physical AI companions, humans and robots? Will human-driven vehicles slowly fade from the roads, to be replaced by driverless cars and trucks?
While it’s impossible to predict the future exactly, it’s highly likely that so much of what’s common today will evolve as these technologies make greater impacts on daily life. The convergence of these trends of efficiency and personalization will radically change the way individuals interact with others and even with themselves.
Curious to see where tech takes us this year? Keep reading the Dassault Systèmes blog to stay up to date on the latest news, trends and insights.
Shoshana is a Senior Communications Manager on the Corporate Publishing team here at Dassault Systèmes. With experience in journalism, marketing, and PR, her work has been published around the world and across the internet.