Numerous Automotive makers were in attendance at CES 2024. Some are well known, and some are not. In this post, we are going to talk about some of the most interesting and innovative automotive tech present at CES 2024.
Let's start from the beginning. I attended a few media days press conferences, the first being Volkswagen. Last year at CES they unveiled their new ID 7. It had intuitive operations, and state of the art digital features. Kai Grunitz, member of the management board for technical development is convinced that CES and VW are a perfect match. The ID 7 is on the market in the European and Chinese market. VW will be adding AI in the form of ChatGPT to their Electric and Internal Combustion engines in all first markets in the second quarter of 2024. They also unveiled the new generation VW Golf.
Now back to the AI. VW cannot do this alone, continues Grunitz. By partnering with Cerence, they are able to operate faster and better. VW will be the first automaker to integrate AI into their series production vehicles.
Stefan Ortmanns, CEO of Cerence, then takes the stage to discuss the partnership. The integration of AI into vehicles goes beyond a digital assistant, and is more of an experience. The focus is drivers and passengers. Cerrence is more than a software, they are the innovation partner in the automotive space and have partnered with more than just VW. They will transform our cars into a companion. Looking ahead, this is but just one milestone in their long term partnership.
So what does the in car assistant, ChatGPT, do? Iqbal Arshad, CTO of Cerence, and Dr. Axel Heinrich, Head of Innovation and System Architecture at VW then took the stage to demonstrate. With the integration of LLM, or Large Language Model, 20 different languages are used to help the virtual assistant interact with the user more authentically. IDA, VW's assistant, is safe, secure and almost instant. Arshad and Dr. Heinrich hopped into the ID 7. The display turned on immediately. The experience is 100% hands free. Dr. Heinrich started the demonstration by saying, "Hello Ida, turn the temperature to 74 degrees." IDA replied, "Alright, I'm setting the temperature in the right front area to 74.0 degrees." The Cerence Audio AI can detect where the audio is coming from so that only the passenger side adjusted. Next, instead of saying a specific temperature, Arshad said, "I am feeling cold." IDA replied, "Okay, warming the left front side now." The driver side heat them increased by two degrees.
Another important feature is the navigation integration. Most of the time you need to input a destination into the map you are using. Dr. Heinrich demonstrated the again, "IDA, find me a restaurant nearby." IDA then brought up several restaurants in the area. The LLM uses reasoning to understand what the user is wanting or needing. Aside from directions, you can also ask IDA to tell you a story, play music, or make general inquiries. The commands can be general, or specific. IDA will know what you need.
Mercedes Benz CTO, Markus Shaefer, discussed the future of the brand. Hyper Personalization is the focus as they move towards a user experience not just in the car, but in other areas of life. Mercedes is on a journey. The Vision IQXX, which. was released at CES two years prior, was one milestone, another is the Concept CLA Class which premiered here at CES 2024. This all electric concept car showcases the upcoming modular architecture. There will four models, a 4 door coupe, a shooting break and two SUVs. This concept has a range of more than 450 miles and consumption of 5.2mi/kwh. It can deliver up to 248 miles on just a 15 minute charge. It can also be a power supply to your home should it ever be needed. Sahfer go on to state that is what they mean by in car and beyond.
All of the New Mercedes will run on MBOS. They will also integrate AI into their vehicles, but have not yet chosen a partner to further develop this technology.
CSO, Magnus Ostberg, then took the stage to discuss their virtual assistant. Similar to VW, they use LLM. Their virtual assistant will have facial expressions so we can know if it is listening, thinking or even who it is speaking to in the car, It has 4 traits, natural, predictive, empathetic and personal.
Natural promotes seamless interactions. Predictive is more proactive and can conference you into a meeting if you are running late for example. The empathetic mode can generate different tones to reflect if we are sad or angry. And of course, the personal voice can be adjusted to how you would want it to sound.
Next they demonstrated the virtual assistant. "Hey Mercedes, I'm in the mood for Italian. Can you suggest a restaurant not too far from the convention center." The Mercedes virtual assistant then went into a more conversational type suggestion, making it feel a little more personal than IDA.
Graphics plays a huge role in making the virtual assistant more user friendly. In China, they offer 3D graphics showing exactly where you are so that you know when to make your turn or when it is light or dark. The graphics will depict a realistic representation of cars, busses and even people around you. You will even see your own Mercedes and if your deadlights are or turn signals are on. Together with Google they are building a navigation system that will be available for us to use. Chris Phillips, VP and GM at Google then joined the discussion about the partnership. He reiterated that Mercedes is all about the personalization. Phillips announced the Automotive SDK. The Automotive SDK is being offered to OEMS to personalize the brands and the look and feel that celebrates the look and feel for the driver. The world is changing all the time and went on to state that users have a big role in the updating of Google Maps. Mercedes has always focussed on style and luxury and are now taking it one step further so that its driver's can personalize their ride.
Next up, we have Vinfast. We discussed Vinfast's reveals last their with their VF6 and VF7. This year, the unveiled three new vehicles at CES 2024, the VF3 Compact EV, which has been released in Vietnam and will be distributed globally in 2025, the Dragonfly eBike, and the VF Wild, their concept EV pickup truck.
Le Thi Thu Thuy, the Chairwoman and former CEO of Vinfast, stated that the VF3 drives home their mission in making EVs accessible to everyone. It seats 4 comfortably and has an estimated range of 125 miles. Perfect for inner city commuting. Pricing has not yet been announced, but reservations will be available in early 2024. Thuy states that the VF3 is the "pretty baby" of the family of Vinfast vehicles. They did not plan on bringing the VF3 to the North American market, but they gave it a shot at one of their meetings and dealerships loved it. It is small, which far too many North American cars have moved away from. The VF Wild is their first concept car. Their goal was to make it realistic, but still attainable. It is still a concept, and needs some fine tuning and feedback to decide where they will go from here.
Moving to the next EV is XPENG AeroHT who showed off the eVTOL flying supercar. Xpeng says the flying supercar has “the driving experience of a supercar, but can transition effortlessly from land to flight mode, allowing drivers to take to the air.” It has 8 rotors on the four flying arms. The arms fold in for supercar duty, flip out for flight. It appears to resemble a four door sedan in driving mode. Xpeng says it successfully test-flew a two-ton prototype in Dubai in 2022. I am looking forward to where this prototype may be headed.
On to one of my favorites from both this year and last year, Afeela. Afeela debuted last year as Sony and Honda's newest EV. The sleek design of this four door sedan immediately caught my attention.not to mention it was the love child to two of the top Brands in their respective industries. Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) aims to revolutionize how people move by redefining the relationship between people and mobility. President and COO, Izumi Kawanishi stated that they want to progress on "Mobility as a Creative Entertainment Space. There is a lot to dive into here. I got the chance to take a seat in their latest prototype and see it in action.
Last, but certainly not least, we have HD Hyundai. At CES 2023, Hyundai opened my eyes to the onslaught of other projects besides their automotive sector. Autonomy is coming. Most interesting, they demoed their Twin Xite Excavator, a completely remote control excavator. What does that mean? It's no surprise that excavating is a dangerous job. This machine is not completely autonomous, as it needs an operator. Think remote control excavating. This new tech does not eliminate the need for the human touch, but it does negate the need for some skills. In the end, this may mean cheaper pay but also cheaper costs. I also got to demo this extraordinary machine.
There was much more Automotive tech present at CES and it seems that it takes over more and more each year. These highlights are a continuation of what I saw last year and some of the most interesting things I experience this year. AI and future of mobility is close, and I believe it will only be a few years before we see some of this technology in the United States.
