Even before CES 2025 kicked off a few trends began to emerge — or more accurately, some gaps appeared.
All U.S. and some European automakers that have helped turn CES into an auto show were absent. Several Chinese automakers filled that void, notably Zeekr, the EV brand owned by China’s Geely Holdings. Wey, a premium brand under Great Wall Motor, and Xpeng also had booths.
The West Hall in the Las Vegas Convention Center, where the majority of vehicle and transportation tech sets up, felt emptier than previous years. And notably, some of the biggest announcements had nothing to do with new EVs — or other products that might take up a lot of physical space. Toyota, for instance, announced the first phase of Woven City, a prototype city built on 175 acres at the foot of Mount Fuji, was complete and in search of inventors and startups. Oh, and that it’s also “exploring rockets.” Not exactly something one can exhibit at CES.
Still, there was future-of-transportation tech to be discovered. This year, autonomous vehicle technology had a larger presence than ever before, and what was there provided a few hints how the rest of the year may shape up. Here are the major themes we spotted at the show.
AI and automated driving tech
Japanese company Tier IV displays at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. Image Credits:Kirsten Korosec
Some of the largest exhibits at the Las Vegas Convention Center focused on automated driving technologies.
Autonomous vehicle companies that are developing (or have launched) robotaxi services like May Mobility, Japanese company Tier IV, Waymo, and Zoox all had a presence. Notably, Zoox was also giving robotaxi rides to the media leading up to CES and throughout the show.
Automated tech popped in other places too, including agriculture-focused companies like John Deere and Kubota and startups like Polymath Robotics that apply its self-driving systems to off-road environments.
Perhaps the largest group of companies were showing off products that support automated driving and advanced driving assistance systems, including simulation, machine learning, sensors, and data integration. Even Honda got into the mix by announcing a new operating system called Asimo (yes, after the iconic robot) that will be integrated into its next-gen 0 Series EVs and used to support ADAS features.
Comma.ai was also on the scene. This 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 give it advanced driver assistance capabilities on par with Tesla Autopilot and GM’s hands-free Super Cruise system.
Vay, which has put a driverless twist on car-sharing, was also in Las Vegas — although not on the show floor. The startup, which set up shop in the city a couple of years ago, announced a major expansion of its service.
Nvidia continues to partner with everyone
Jensen Huang, co-found …