Article CES Las Vegas: Future of the Auto Industry

CES Las Vegas: Future of the Auto Industry

by AJ Irving, January 2025

Boasting concept vehicles such as self-driving trucks and flying cars, automobile industry announcements dazzled visitors at the CES tech conference in Las Vegas last week, namely those from Honda, Sony, NVIDIA,Toyota Motor Corporation, Aurora, BMW Group, Hyundai Motor Company (현대자동차), ZEISS Group, KIA Motors and XPENG.

Honda (HMC) unveiled its two latest electric vehicle concepts under its new 0 Series line of pure EVs, being the Honda 0 SUV and Honda 0 Saloon prototypes. Both models, which are scheduled to launch in North America in 2026, are enabled with Level 3 self-driving capabilities.

Honda 0 SUV and Honda 0 Saloon prototypes

Moreover, Honda announced an updated version of its Afeela 1 sedan, a joint venture project with consumer electronics company Sony (SONY). It has a full-screen dash powered by Sony software, including the ability to play PS5 games, among other in-car entertainment features. The vehicle is priced at $90,000.

Meanwhile, Nvidia (NVDA) also made headlines, unveiling the AI chipmaker’s Cosmos platform for developers to simulate its self-driving vehicle software, the company's latest push into the auto market. Prepare for a paradigm shift in the global robotics and computing industries.

Nvidia also announced new partnerships with Toyota (TM) to power computing and autonomous tech for its next-gen EVs, as well as autonomous trucking company Aurora Innovation (AUR). They will be using Nvidia’s specialized chips for self-driving vehicle systems.

Aurora autonomous vehicles

As for BMW (BWM.DE), it unveiled its latest infotainment software and digital driver cockpit which features a panoramic vision, a full display bar above the dashboard, and an accompanying center console screen below that will provide the driver with car data, information, and entertainment functions.

At the same time, Hyundai and its Hyundai Mobis division showed off its Holographic Windshield Display, powered by augmented reality. It displays driving information such as navigation data, infotainment, and safety alerts, offering a layer of graphics across the entire width of the front windshield in front of what the driver is seeing ahead.

Holographic Windshield Display of Hyundai Mobis

Germany’s Zeiss will power the optics for the technology, and the first car to receive the holographic windshield feature will be sister brand Kia’s upcoming EV9.

Last but not least, Chinese EV maker Xpeng (XPEV) stunned visitors with its Xpeng AeroHT, a futuristic modular EV van with a fully deployable electric eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft that the driver and one passenger can fly in.

XPeng said the “Land Aircraft Carrier” modular flying car is coming soon, with a presale on the way.

Xpeng AeroHT