CES 2022: Mercedes, BMW, IBM, Panasonic to skip in-person events as Omicron Covid-19 variant continue to surge

BMW, IBM, Panasonic, and Mercedes have joined the growing list of tech companies who have decided not to attend the `CES 2022` in-person in Las Vegas, as cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant have continued to surge.

While Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the governing body on CES, plans to go ahead with the show, several tech companies like OnePlus, AMD, MSI, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Lenovo, T-Mobile, AT&T, Meta, Twitter, Amazon, TikTok, Pinterest, Alphabet-owned Waymo, along with several media outlets, will not attend the consumer electronics show.

"Out of an abundance of caution, BMW will move all planned media activities at CES to a fully online programme from Germany on January 5," BMW said in a statement to The Verge.

In addition, fellow German automaker Mercedes-Benz is going to skip the in-person event as well.

In a statement, Panasonic North America CEO Megan Myungwon Lee says, "The health and safety of our employees, partners and customers remains our top priority. With this commitment in mind, we have updated our hybrid CES activation plans maintaining a modified physical footprint, with limited on-site staff, following CTA`s health safety protocols as well as our own proactive measures to ensure the health and well-being of attendees."

The CTA told TechCrunch that over 2,200 companies are confirmed to participate in-person at `CES 2022` in Las Vegas.

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, one of the CES 2022`s featured speakers, announced that his company won`t be attending the world`s largest electronics show next month.

The world`s most influential tech event is slated to showcase some first-time innovations around Blockchain-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs), remote health solutions, self-driving cars, gaming, food and space tech.