CES

Despite not being as flashy as previous editions, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show aka CES still spawned some rad, futuristic concepts that, unfortunately, have every chance in the world of being nothing more than that.

For example, GM showed two prototypes at CES 2021 - one for land transportation and one for air travel.

It’s hard to believe that BMW’s iDrive infotainment system is 20 years old this year. But it is, and if you need a little reminder of that, this short film from Bimmer will give you all the reminding you need. The film stars a grumpy, foul-mouthed BMW E65 7 Series and a much younger BMW iX. The two talking Bimmers argue about which of them is the better car.

Curse words are uttered, feelings are hurt, and a resolution happens towards the end. It’s a weird short film that’ll make you wonder what Bimmer’s marketing folks are sipping these days, but there is a story that’s told perfectly here, too. This is a story of two generations of BMW that couldn’t be more different from each other, though the two do have ties that bind. Give it a watch and prepare to have feelings about it afterward.

Some 20 years ago most cars didn’t have infotainment displays and their dashboards were crowded with buttons and knobs. Come 2021 and almost every car out there comes with a display, usually ranging from seven to 12.3 inches (so companies offer larger screens). But things are about to go wild, as Mercedes-Benz just unveiled the Hyperscreen, a massive 56-inch infotainment display that’s basically stretches over the entire dashboard. Needless to say, Mercedes stole the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show with it, but BMW also gets a piece of the action with a new-generation iDrive system.

Every year, the topic of flying cars, VTOLs, and autonomous air taxis comes into discussion, usually around the same time as CES unravels in Las Vegas. 2020 was no exception, because Hyundai Motor and Uber had big news to share: the two companies have agreed on a partnership that would permit the development and use of Uber Air Taxis as the pivotal part of an aerial ride share network.

Uber’s plans for airborne rides are perhaps best described by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi words. He believes that the future of transportation has to be shared, electric, and in three dimensions, and that plenty of big cities around the world will want to be a part of the initiative. Let’s see how that reflects in the freshly-sealed Uber-Hyundai deal.

The Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR is a futuristic concept car that explores new design options and technologies, as well as the "vision of designers, engineers, and trend researches for mobility in the distant future." The AVTR name stands for Advanced Vehicle Transformation, but it also represents the company’s collaboration with the team that produced Avatar, a science fiction film directed and produced by James Cameron and released in 2009. While previous Vision concepts from Mercedes-Benz were also futuristic, they still featured technologies and styling cues linked to production cars, while some of the design actually made it on vehicles you can buy in dealerships. The Vision AVTR is an entirely different story as its features and technologies won’t be transferred to production cars in the near future.

Nissan has been trying to make its presence in the EV world known for a while now, and the Leaf has served its purpose for the most part. The leaf, however, just doesn’t have what it takes to hold up in terms of range or performance. That’s why we were treated to the 2019 Nissan Leaf Twin-Motor Concept and why Nissan has been using the basis of that concept to create the e-4orce twin-motor, four-wheel-drive powertrain for its next-gen EVs. Until now, we knew very little, but Nissan has finally spilled some details about e-4orce, and it could have some serious implications on the future of Nissan sports cars.

Amazon has seamlessly slipped into the automotive sector quite successfully. Unlike Sony and Samsung, Amazon is not working on a product directly for now, but it sure has left a strong impression by working with some of the most happening brands of today.

At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, Lamborghini added Amazon Alexa to its feature list and this was nothing short of an honor for the Seattle-based company. But it doesn’t end here. Now, Rivian has announced that Alexa will be directly integrated into the hardware of the R1T truck and R1S SUV.

During CES 2020, Toyota announced that it was building “the city of the future” that will be known as “Woven City.” On the offset, it sounds pretty cool. Only autonomous, electric vehicles will be allowed in the city, it will serve as a research ecosystem, and will be packed to the gills with AI. It will be built with fully sustainable materials, and to make it even more eco-friendly, it will be powered by a mix of solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells. It really does sound great, and the rendered images of this future city look pretty awesome too, but it got me to thinking about how quickly “the city of the future” could become a 175-acre cesspool for privacy intrusion.

Back in March 2019, Henrik Fisker, the CEO of Fisker Inc., announced that the company is planning to build an affordable electric four-wheel-drive SUV with a range of 300 miles. But no one really took him seriously given his propensity to overcommit and under-deliver.

Make no mistake; Fisker has produced some of the most beautiful-looking vehicles to date, but the company never really hit it off. This time, however, Fisker has lived up to its word and revealed its first electric SUV at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show. Called the Fisker Ocean, the SUV looks to be a wholesome package and has enough to take on some of the fiercest competitors in the market. But will the Ocean see the light of the day?

Just as we were prepared to suck it up and live with the painfully small amount of vehicles presented at CES 2020, Sony, known mostly for its electronics and PlayStation gaming consoles, drops the bomb by unveiling an all-electric car prototype.

No, it’s not a Porsche although it looks a lot like one, don’t you think? This contraption here is called Vision-S and with it, Sony wants to brag about its ability to keep up with the latest mobility trends that will ultimately turn our cars into downright entertainment spaces, especially once Level 5 autonomy begins to shift from exception to norm. Here’s what you need to know about the Sony Vision-S.

Unveiled in September 2019, the new-generation Land Rover Defender was showcased at a couple of auto shows last year. Come 2020 and Land Rover is showing off the vehicle’s advanced infotainment system at the Consumer Electronics Show. Why is this important? Well, Land Rover claims that the Defender features the world’s first dual-modem, dual eSIM technology, which enhances connectivity and helps the infotainment system work quicker even when operating system updates.

The 2020 Consumer Electronics Show just kicked off and Lamborghini came to Las Vegas to show off new tech for the Huracan Evo. On top of releasing an updated rear-wheel drive version to replace the old LP 580-2, Lambo added Amazon Alexa to the supercar’s list of features. This is big news as it’s Alexa’s first venture into the supercar market. Also, Lamborghini programmed the voice assistant directly into the infotainment system rather than adding it as a third-party app.

The second-generation Mercedes-Benz CLA was unveiled at 2019 Consumer Electronics Show.The revised four-door coupe replaces the highly successful first-generation CLA, introduced all the way back in 2013. Just like its predecessor, the 2020 CLA competes in a very tight niche that only includes the Audi A3 Sedan. However, the 2020 CLA may have what it takes to compete against the slightly larger 2019 BMW 3 Series. Based on the same platform that underpins the latest A-Class hatchback and sedan models, the CLA boasts a notable design inside and out. It combines features seen on the A-Class and CLS on the outside, while the interior comes from the smaller of the two. Like most recently unveiled Mercs, the CLA features all the cool technology found in the bigger E-Class and S-Class models, including the semi-autonomous driving system. This places the CLA at the top of its class tech-wise. Let’s find out more about that in the review below.

The 2019 Consumer Electronics Show has now officially reached full chat, and many of the major automakers are there to show off their latest and greatest gadgets and concepts. Kia is among them, arriving in Vegas to debut its vision for an autonomous, intelligent, highly connected transportation system that can understand your moods and adapt itself accordingly.

Hyundai Mobis, the parts and services division of Korean auto giant, took part in the festivities of the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show with a concept that embraces the role that lights play — yes, lights — in improving the safety of autonomous driving vehicles. Called the Communication Lighting Concept, the coupe-like creation’s importance isn’t grounded in its appearance, but more so in the technology it carries. In this case, the concept is equipped with an assortment of lights and displays that it uses to communicate its intentions to pedestrians and commuters alike, alerting them of potential dangers and hazards on the road. Hyundai Mobis says that the technology can be rolled out in a quick and cost-effective manner, though that would still depend on the willingness of automakers to incorporate the technology into their own vehicles.

Hyundai and Kia announced the commercialization of autonomous vehicles by 2021 and the full-scale production of autonomous vehicles by 2030. Yet, in a video about the future of electric and autonomous vehicles it published only days ago, Hyundai and Kia graphically showcased the features of the inductive charge system and proposed an autonomous valet service for its cars. The technology will land on Hyundai-Kia cars in the future, but it won’t reach mass production until electric vehicles reach Level 4 of autonomy. According to projections, this will happen around 2025.

Nevertheless, the system Hyundai-Kia proposes could noticeably improve the efficiency of the charge ports by automatically controlling the vehicles after the charge is complete. In short, the vehicles will move to a free parking spot after the recharge process.

Furthermore, the technology will probably solve the problem of jams in parking locations.

Toyota seems to be on a roll at CES. The company showcased its technology called ‘Guardian’ a couple of days back, and now, it has unveiled the TRI-P4 automated driving test vehicle. The P4 is based on the all-new fifth-generation Lexus LS 500h and will be used in Toyota Research Institute’s Guardian and Chauffeur automated driving system development.

Technology company Harman was on-hand at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show to showcase a new technology that could redefine the way in-car communication takes place. The new audio technology is called Premium Communications, and it includes three potentially game-changing features — In-Car Communication (ICC), ClearChat with Far-End Noise Cancellation, and Personal Communication Zones — that could create a more pleasurable environment inside our cars. There’s no word yet on whether Harman plans to put this new tech to market.

The Nissan Leaf set quite a few benchmarks since its introduction in 2010, but its poor mileage prevented it from becoming a really big hit. The second-gen model arrived with notably more miles per charge, but the Leaf remained inferior to most of its rivals. Come 2019, and the Leaf e+ broke cover at the Consumer Electronics Show with a bigger battery and improved range.

I thought I had sen it all, but then Hyundai revealed the Elevate Concept, an Ultimate Mobility Vehicle (UMV), at this year’s CES. It is a car. Actually, a vehicle that can drive and that can walk. Yup, you’ve read that right. The Hyundai Elevate Concept is one of the latest projects that has developed in the minds of Hyundai designers heads from the Hyundai Cradle Center for Robotic-Augmented Design. These people are obviously buried into sci-fi, or, at least, into things that Boston Dynamics does with its robots. Hyundai Cradle created a vehicle that looks a bit like that Boston Dynamic cyberdog, or the Star Wars AT-AT walker. But the Hyundai Elevate Concept isn’t supposed to go to war (well, it is a bit). In fact, it is an out-of-the-box design exercise that shows the possibilities for an all-terrain vehicle that weren’t explored before.

And, with this, I do not imply comparing it with the machines that can conquer Moab. The Elevate Concept is a vehicle designed to help the unfortunate in search-and-rescue missions, on humanitarian missions, or to walk over terrain no vehicle has ever managed to traverse. Its go-anywhere capability is unmatched even by the most extreme offroad machines you can think of. All because of the robotic legs with tires linked on far ends. Actually, as I visually inspect the Elevate Concept, I am rather sure that a similar sketch exists somewhere in a NASA office in a drawer where all the rejected designs for Mars rovers reside. I get that vibe from this. It’s like Hyundai designers looked to create a vehicle for the Earth from the perspective of some “alien NASA” designers. I actually like it a lot.

The Hyundai Cradle, a Center for Robotic-Augmented Design in Living Experiences, that actually envisioned the vehicle, managed to craft something that goes well beyond what a standard car, or a truck, can do. The Hyundai Elevate Concept can walk, climb, and traverse almost every kind of terrain.

BMW’s Designworks division is showcasing its latest project at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show. Developed together with outdoor clothing company The North Face, the concept is called the Futurelight Camper, and it’s essentially a futuristic camping tent that traces its roots to the BMW GINA Light Visionary Model Concept that the German automaker unveiled in 2008. If anything, the Futurelight Camper Concept proves that just because camping doesn’t necessarily extend to being a high-tech affair, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it in the comfort of a camping tent that comes with a geodesic-dome frame made from carbon fiber and a high-tech fabric that comes from a process called Nanospinning technology. Unfortunately, it looks like the Futurelight Camper Concept is going to remain a concept for the time being.