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.

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.

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

Watch our preview of the IDTechEx Show! coming up in Santa Clara on Nov. 16-17 (www.idtechex.com/usa).

Cornerstone presentations at North America's largest event on emerging technologies cover how new technologies are addressing world's biggest needs

Agricultural robotics can upend several commonly-held notions. Amongst them is the idea that big is better. In practise this has translated into ever larger and more powerful agricultural machinery. This makes sense because a big machine amplifies the capabilities of the skilled driver, dramatically boosting its productivity. This notion may however be about to experience a fundamental change. The reason is that the driver can now finally be taken totally out of the equation.

The RaaS model, increasingly trendy in the world of robotics, is becoming commonplace in agricultural robotics too.

Crop protection, chemicals and robotics at first appear totally unrelated, yet IDTechEx Research finds that steady improvements in agricultural robotics will, slowly but surely, fundamentally alter the crop protection chemicals business.

Robot vehicles may give the insurance companies and car companies something to do when one robot taxi replaces 20 cars owned by private individuals as we move inexorably to 80% of people living in cities in 2050.