The Greatest Automotive Tech at CES 2026

We already dubbed the Sony-Honda EV collab’s huge entrance display the best dashboard on the present, nevertheless it bears repeating. Entrance dashboards are the best way all of us work together with our automobiles, and the Afeela 1 understood the task. The huge panoramic display that extends till the passenger door is made up of two shows, one 12.3 inches and the opposite 28.5 inches. With Sony behind the related automotive tech, it’s not stunning that the sweeping display is made for gaming (and wi-fi PlayStation Distant Play) and media viewing, full with themes based mostly on common Sony video games like Astro Bot. Honda will get its second when the Afeela 1 is definitely drivable. The EV is meant to reach in California by the top of the 12 months for simply over $100,000 to start out.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis automotive gained’t ever be a manufacturing automobile, however that’s not the purpose. The showcase automotive was constructed for CES to convey to life the infotainment, AI assistant, and automatic driving and security options that concurrently run behind the scenes of a automotive. The idea automotive, geared up with 13 cameras and 20 audio system, was capable of present driver help for a passed-out driver and name security operators when the motive force didn’t reply. It proactively took a photograph of the cabin to explain the scene to a human operator and checked the motive force’s smartwatch to observe for vitals. Whereas a powerful instance of what an AI agent might sooner or later do within the automotive, extra sensible was the idea automotive’s capability to navigate to the primary assembly on the motive force’s calendar and choose a restaurant for dinner.

Waymo’s driverless robotaxi fleet has change into synonymous with the Jaguar I-Tempo EVs it makes use of in cities across the nation. However at CES 2026, the autonomous automobile firm confirmed its latest automobile: the Ojai. That’s the title Waymo has given the Zeekr electrical minivans made by Chinese language firm Geely Auto that are actually decked out in a brand new Waymo hue. Lots of the 13 cameras, six radar, and 4 LiDAR sensors will sit atop the brand new Waymo Ojai, much like the I-Tempo design, so there’s no mistaking this for something however an autonomous automobile. The brand new Waymos are anticipated to make it to San Francisco later this 12 months.

Talking of robotaxis, Uber is again within the recreation with a giant collab. The corporate is powering a fleet of Lucid Gravity EVs full of Degree 4 self-driving functionality from Nuro and Nvidia compute energy. The driverless taxis had been unveiled at CES 2026 as prototypes that can be deployed within the San Francisco Bay Space later this 12 months, pending certification.

The taxis reap the benefits of the Lucid Gravity’s three-row SUV, giant cargo maintain, and built-in backseat screens that management issues like heated seats and air con—necessary for a driverless cab trip. With out destroying the modern look of the electrical SUV, the repurposed model seems like an autonomous automobile with high-res cameras, LiDAR sensors, and radar driving on the roof and all through the automotive. Finally, Uber plans to function the robotaxis all over the place it has a presence across the globe.

Agentic AI is a giant deal for automobiles, the place voice management makes the driving expertise extra interactive than ever earlier than. Geely Auto, the Chinese language carmaker that owns Volvo, introduced at CES 2026 that it chosen Cerence AI’s agentic AI platform for automobiles, referred to as xUI. In a demo displaying the voice-controlled agent at work, it was instantly clear how easily (and naturally) the Cerence system related navigation, local weather, automotive controls, media, and even productiveness instruments by a Microsoft 365 integration. On the fly, drivers can arrange “voice shortcuts” to manage a set of features, for instance, utilizing a phrase to open all of the home windows. Whereas solely a demo, the system didn’t falter when issues went off script, and the motive force might communicate casually and colloquially with out a hiccup. Cerence AI has lengthy proven use voice management within the automotive, so I wasn’t stunned that its newest model can impressively deal with complicated conditions like a number of duties from completely different seats within the automotive.

That is what CES is all about: proof of ideas which are completely pointless, however make you rethink the automotive passenger expertise. I couldn’t cease fascinated by Garmin’s new use of Meta’s Neural Band within the automotive. Carrying the wrist band, you should utilize your thumb, and index and center fingers to manage a touchscreen—with out touching the display. The band reads electrical alerts out of your wrist and converts the midair gestures into swipes and clicks onscreen. The Neural Band is under no circumstances an important instrument, nevertheless it brings up a brand new means for passengers (and possibly even drivers as soon as the automotive is parked, charging, or in a not-so-future totally autonomous mode) to work together with the automotive’s infotainment options.