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Even before CES 2025 begins, some trends — or more accurately, some gaps — are starting to emerge.
All US and some European automakers who helped make CES an auto show was missing. EV brand Zicor, owned by China’s Geely Holdings, has filled that void, notably among many Chinese automakers. Way, a premium brand under Great Wall Motors and Xpeng also had booths.
The Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall, where most of the vehicles and transportation technology is set up, felt emptier than in previous years. And notably, some of the big announcements had nothing to do with new EVs — or other products that can take up a lot of physical space. Toyota, for example, announced the first phase of Bona City, a prototype city built on 175 acres at the foot of Mount Fuji, complete and Looking for innovators and startups. Oh, and that’s it too “Exploring Rockets.” Not exactly something one can demonstrate at CES.
Nevertheless, future-transportation technology was invented. This year, autonomous vehicle technology had a bigger presence than ever before, and what was there gave some indication of how the rest of the year might shape up. Here are the main themes we saw in the show.
AI and automated driving technology
Some of the largest exhibits at the Las Vegas Convention Center Focuses on automated driving technology.
Autonomous vehicle companies that are developing (or have launched) robotaxi services May MobilityJapanese company Tier IV, WaymoAnd Zoox was all in attendance. Notably, Zoox was also offering Robotaxi rides to the media leading up to CES and throughout the show.
Automated technology has also popped up in other places, including agriculture-focused companies John Deere and startups such as Kubota and Polymath Robotics that apply its self-driving systems to off-road environments.
Perhaps the largest group of companies was exhibiting products that support automated driving and advanced driving assistance systems including simulation, machine learning, sensors and data integration. Honda has even entered the mix by announcing a new operating system called Asimo (yes, after the iconic robot) that will integrate with it. The next-generation 0 Series EV and used to support ADAS features.
Comma.ai was also on the scene. The startup, founded by George Hotz, has developed an open-source driver-assistance system and supporting hardware that can be plugged into many modern vehicles to provide advanced driver assistance capabilities on par with Tesla’s Autopilot and GM’s hands-free Super Cruise system.
Vay, which has put a driverless twist on car sharing, was also in Las Vegas — though not on the show floor. The startup, which set up shop in the city a few years ago, made an announcement Major expansion of its services.
Nvidia continues to partner with everyone
Every year at CES, the transportation desk receives a bundle of announcements from Nvidia detailing which automakers, suppliers and transportation partners have signed on to use Nvidia’s technology, and 2025 was no different. What stood out, though, was Nvidia’s commitment to as many self-driving stacks as possible, from testing and simulation to onboard supercomputers to cloud supercomputing.
A prime example was Nvidia’s collaboration with Toyota. The two have worked together for years to help Toyota’s R&D unit develop, train and validate AV technology, but this year, the two announced more concrete plans. Nvidia’s technology powers Toyota’s future vehiclesIt will be equipped with automated driving capabilities as we know it now. Specifically, we’ll see Nvidia’s Drive AGX Orion system-on-a-chip (SOC) and DriveOS security-focused operating system deployed in Toyota’s next-generation vehicles.
When it comes to Level 4 autonomous vehicle technology (ie, a system that can drive itself without the need for a human to take over), Nvidia had more news to share. The chipmaker is partnering with self-driving trucking company Aurora Innovations and automotive supplier Continental to see Nvidia’s Drive Thor The SoC and DriveOS are integrated with the Aurora driver, which is Aurora’s AV system that Continental plans to mass produce in 2027.
Finally a more stunning pair was with Uber. The ride-hailing and delivery giant plans to use Nvidia’s new world model simulation tool, the cosmosand cloud-based AI supercomputing platforms, DGX CloudTo support the development of autonomous vehicle technology. Uber has not shared how it plans to use these tools, as it does not develop its own AV technology. The company plans to partner with AV companies to bring self-driving services to its platform.
The screen looks new
Screens are nothing new at CES. They are everywhere now. This year, some companies were pushing the curtain concept beyond traditional concepts.
Supplier Valeo showed off a novel product it calls Panovision — and which will be on BMW’s next-generation Neue Klasse vehicles — that projects a full screen along the base of the windshield. The company revealed this technology at CES 2024. This year, an in-cabin driver monitoring system has been integrated into the system.
Automotive supplier Hyundai Mobis showed off a holographic screen that covers the entire windshield. From the outside it looks like any other windshield. But from behind the driver’s seat, the windshield turns into a transparent screen that provides information like navigation and music playlists.
GenAI is crawling into cars
Automakers have flocked to the generative AI hype mix — a trend that started last year. Even the casual observer has probably noticed the words “genAI” “chatgpt” or “LLMs” in LVCC’s vehicle technology department.
It was everywhere – and nowhere, if you catch our drift. In some cases, there was real partnership and planning behind the words.
Take its partnerships with BMW and Amazon. BMW used CES 2025 to showcase its new in-car user interface, which will debut in new class Rolling out to sedans and eventually all models later this year.
BMW says it will use Amazon’s Alexa custom assistant technology in future vehicles as well as cars on the road today. This is not what Alexa app drivers are used to. It is a white label product that will integrate Amazon’s large language models Use of this technology will primarily focus on navigation, allowing customers to give more comprehensive spoken commands using natural language.
BMW and Amazon will begin rolling out the LLM-powered capabilities as a beta portion in select vehicles and countries
Meanwhile, Qualcomm came to CES with improvements Snapdragon Digital Chassis (its suite of cloud-connected platforms for automakers) and Cockpit (its digital cockpit and infotainment system). And it wouldn’t be CES 2025 if some of these updates didn’t include generative AI.
The chipmaker said a range of automotive suppliers – such as Alps Alpine, Panasonic and Garmin – as well as Indian automaker Mahindra, plan to integrate Qualcomm technology with their experience. Generative AI features now come with the territory “for an intelligent and personalized in-cabin experience”.
Some features powered by Meta’s Llama and OpenAI’s Whisper Small may look like real-time detection of distracted or drowsy driving; Biometric identification to automatically adjust seat position, mirror angle, etc.; Navigation recommendations based on the driver’s condition, prefer a coffee shop if they look tired.
Other potential use cases for Qualcomm’s generative AI offerings could be multimodal AI that identifies points of interest en route, using models like Llama, open-source Lava, and Fast Stable Diffusion, and even creating custom content to deliver personalized, on-demand entertainment. passenger
Micromobility exists!
Finally, there’s been a lot of talk — and evidence — that micromobility is dead. But that’s not entirely true.
Of course, the shared scooter and ebike businesses have largely struggled, or closed. But walking through the North Hall we were surprised to see how many ebike and scooter brands (many of which are Chinese brands) were on display.
Vmax released six new scooters for its 2025 lineup, Aima Technology Group revealed several new ebikes, and Heybikes released a mid-drive fat tire model. Also launched the segment leader Segway Two new ebikes Which are equipped with the company’s suite of smart technologies and features called Intelligent Ride System.
Verge Motorcycles subsidiary Donut Lab has also entered the mix and released an electric motor that can be integrated directly into tires.
