The excitement has been building up in Las Vegas over the past few days with media days and press conferences, expectations have been riding high and the opening day of CES did not disappoint. Dr Harry Zervos reports from Las Vegas, Nevada.

These past 12 months have seen numerous celebrity deaths, athlete drug scandals and the end of Brangelina however, it was also the year Tesla announced fully automated cars, Alexa became part of the family and Leicester City won the Premier League. As we plan ahead for 2017, IDTechEx analysts have taken a look back over the past 12 months and picked out the most impactful technology launches, acquisitions and products from 2016. Happy New Year from all at IDTechEx!

Beaming the internet to the 4.5 billion people that do not have it should be massively profitable.

For light duty there are small wheel loaders and even small excavators that are pure electric. Now many manufacturers are developing or offering wheel loaders or excavators that are hybrid electric including Komatsu, Volvo and Caterpillar. Care is needed however, because this industry sometimes uses the word hybrid to mean a non-electric hybrid of hydraulic and diesel drive.

It started with Julius Caesar banning vehicles from rattling along the cobbles after 8pm so people could get to sleep. Things went backwards in the ensuing two thousand years but now it is coming center stage again.

The Textron division in the UK Ransome Jacobsen in the UK makes industrial lawnmowers based on diesel engines and lead acid batteries that are sometimes primitive hybrids in having a separate lead acid battery pack for the powertrain.

What do golf cars and heavy electric trucks have in common? There is still no agreement on the best type of electric motor to use in either of them. On IDTechEx analysis, the booming, confusing traction motor business will rise to around $400b in 2027.

The industrial and commercial sector is the largest part of the electric vehicle value market and that will continue to be the case according to analysis in the unique IDTechEx report, Industrial and Commercial Electric Vehicles 2017-2027.

IDTechEx expects EVs to create significant electricity demand in about ten years and be key to huge improvements in local noise and air pollution and in global warming reduction.

Last week Paris experienced its worst spike in pollution since records began. Cars were banned from the streets and public transport made free in the city and surrounding areas. Such vehicle bans have only been introduced four times in the last two decades, and never before on consecutive days.

Jaguar Land Rover wants half its cars to be available in an electric version by the end of the decade, after showcasing its first electric car at the Los Angeles Auto Show earlier this month.

Dick Wallis, CEO of Positioning Systems in the UK has sent IDTechEx a visionary proposal for a new combined airport, smart city and green electricity supply in Wales in the UK.

The new IDTechEx report, Electric Car Technology and Forecasts 2017-2027 finds that the biggest change in cars for one hundred years is now starting. It is driven by totally new requirements and capabilities.

The winners of the IDTechEx Awards were announced yesterday evening (16 November), at the end of the opening day of the IDTechEx Show! in Santa Clara, CA, where over 3,200 attendees were brought together at the biggest conference IDTechEx has held. The awards recognized the most significant innovations in electric vehicles, energy harvesting and storage and the internet of things (IoT).

According to IHS Automotive forecasts, 55% of annual global new vehicle sales in 2020 will be vehicles that are connected - and at that time, nearly half of the global fleet of vehicles in operation will be connected.

The very structure of the bus is changing with electrics, mechanics and electronics previously made as "components-in-a-box" being replaced by structural electronics - the roof is the solar, the dashboard is the instruments - all as smart materials.

Buses are very important. Injuries and deaths from two wheelers have not reduced very much in decades whereas vehicles with four wheels or more have seen huge improvements.

Autonomous vehicles need no pilot, not even one in reserve. Many truly autonomous vehicles are unmanned mobile robots prowling everywhere from the ocean depths to nuclear power stations, the upper atmosphere and outer space.

Debuts in North America; Event Also Features Presentations from Major Car Companies Including Ford, Nissan, Porsche and Toyota

Silicon Valley in California spawns the awesome giants that hold the future in their hands but they cannot solve their traffic problem.