This year’s Los Angeles motor show started a day early as many of us trooped to the Convention Center for the Connected Car Expo. It’s a chance for car-makers and suppliers to show off the latest in-car technology.

So we had Audi, Hyundai and Volvo, for instance, all either demonstrating their latest infotainment or showing off safety technology. 

Jaguar Land Rover, meanwhile, used the forum to launch its new justDrive app, which looks aeons better than its current offering.

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Of course, many of the companies developing this software and hardware are based on the US’s West Coast anyway, including the outfit responsible for the new JLR system. So the LA show is a happy home to show it off.

Walking round the exhibits was also a reminder, if we needed any more, what a battleground it has become for car makers wanting to demonstrate leadership. And what a differentiator it’s becoming for car buyers who won’t want old tech, however good the rest of the car is. 

We already have specific consumer tech shows, of course, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January is becoming a go-to event for car companies as well.

But wouldn’t it be interesting if a traditional motor show morphed into an auto tech show where it wasn’t new models being launched to the public but new car tech?

With the world’s leading developers only an hour’s flight away, if one motor show was to make the leap I’d put money on it being the LA show.