CES 2019: This is what it resembles to go on Google’s Assistant- themed flight

Google brought its own variation of “It’s a Small World” to CES.

The flight, which opened Tuesday at Google’s huge cubicle outside the Las Vegas Convention Center, belongs to a huge advertising blitz the search giant is making around the Assistant, the business’s digital assistant software application, like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri.

So yeah, a flight about software application. To Google’s credit, the business is self-aware about the absurdity. Before riders enter their seats, a voice over the PA system invites them to an experience that’s “part ride, part marketing stunt, let’s be honest with ourselves.”

Here’s how the entire thing plays out. Riders wait in line where they fulfill Grandma, who speaks with the crowd. Then they are ushered into a space where they hear the story for the flight. You’re with Dad as he attempts to hurry through his errands and purchase a cake for Grandma’s 91 st birthday.

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The slow-moving ride takes you through Dad’s day: His rambunctious kids run through the house, he gets stalled in traffic, then gets caught in a downpour. Through it all, he gets help from none other than… the Google Assistant. Dad says things like “Hey Google, navigate to bakery,” and “Send Jane my ETA.”

Then he goes to a French bakery where the baker only speaks French. Which is a good time to use the new Assistant interpreter mode, literally announced today.

As the ride moves along, you can see the Google Assistant jumping into action on a screen on the dash of the ride cart. At the end of the ride, you get your picture taken.

The attraction punctuates Google’s elaborate showing at CES. The world’s largest tech conference is more important to the search giant than ever as it pushes devices to consumers that compete against the likes of Amazon, Apple and Samsung. Google said its presence at this year’s show is triple the size it was last year. Google declined to disclose how much it cost to produce and build the ride.

Elsewhere at the conference, the company plastered the words “Hey Google” — one of the trigger phrases for the Assistant — over one of the main entrances of the Las Vegas Convention Center, as well as on the city’s monorail. Google also has an army of human “Google Assistants,” dressed like a cross between painters and snowboarders in all white, roaming the show floor.

At the show, Google made a slew of announcements, including a new smart clock manufactured by Lenovo and a new platform that aims to make it easier for device makers to add the Assistant to their gadgets.

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