The future of driving at CES 2025: How AI is shaping tomorrow's auto experience
Sure, we’re all starting to get used to having access to generative AI (GenAI) on our smartphones, PCs and tablets, but did you know it’s coming to your car as well?
At this year’s CES show in Las Vegas, there was once again a huge focus on advanced technologies coming to vehicles of all kinds, but there was a distinct focus on integrating AI across the driving experience.
Companies like BMW and Honda were talking about and demonstrating GenAI-powered assistants in their vehicle infotainment systems for everything from improved directions to hands-free control of more vehicle functions. At the same time, many automakers and key chip providers like Nvidia and Qualcomm were also talking about how they’re leveraging GenAI models to improve assisted and autonomous driving features.
Nvidia, in particular, made a big point in its CES keynote to talk about how it’s bringing AI into the physical world thanks to several new AI-powered world foundation models and digital simulation tools. The company cited autonomous driving (and robotics) as the first examples of how it’s deploying the new technology.
New tech for 2025:The game-changing all-day laptop power at this year's CES
Another key theme from the show intersecting with this AI trend is the increasing impact of software-defined vehicles (SDVs), a topic that Qualcomm and many other chip providers have been discussing for the last few years. Essentially, a software-defined vehicle makes your car take on characteristics of devices like your smartphone, where new capabilities and improved functions can be delivered via over-the-air software updates. While the concept of SDVs has been around for a while now, this year’s CES offered clear signs that it’s quickly becoming a reality across more than just a few high-end electric vehicles.
Plus, AI advancements and SDV concepts can be combined by having the car automatically upgrade the algorithms that control its assisted and autonomous driving features. The net result is an increasingly digital, AI-influenced vehicle experience that will start to impact a wide range of new cars and trucks — and how we interact with them — from later this year onward.
All of these topics and more came out during a panel discussion (moderated at the show by yours truly) on the future of the automotive industry called “Revolutionizing the Future of Driving, Unleashing the Power of AI”. The discussion included representatives from BMW, Honda, Rivian, Nuro (a startup developing AI-powered autonomous driving technology) and Arm (the company that sponsored the session), whose core chip designs are used by Nvidia, Qualcomm, NXP and most other automotive chipmakers.
The 30-minute session (a recording of which you can find here) offered a fascinating look at how all of these companies are integrating AI in various ways and via various systems into their vehicles and/or core automotive technologies. If you’re even the least bit interested in how cars and trucks are going to evolve over the next few years, I encourage you to check out the recording.
Among the many examples and ideas that were discussed was the ability to essentially converse with your car, thanks to the integration of AI-powered assistants that actually understand what you’re asking and can respond in an accurate, meaningful way. Many cars have had voice-based command and control functions for several years, but most have been extremely limited in how they can respond.
In the upcoming generation of vehicles, you’ll be able to ask things in a much more natural manner and receive answers that are useful. So, for example, as you’re starting a road trip you could ask for suggestions on best places to stop and eat, say, Thai food along your path based on what the traffic patterns are expected to be when you get to certain areas. The vehicle will then offer suggestions (and can eventually learn your preferences) and automatically enter your location choice into the navigation system.
New safety-focused features will not only monitor the driver for drowsiness and alert them if they detect it, but automatically (and safely) pull the car over to the side of the road if the driver doesn’t respond.
One intriguing new option is the ability to share the personal preferences that increasingly powerful AI-powered assistants on our smartphones and PCs are starting to collect so that we can maintain a portable digital identity with all our unique choices working consistently across all our different devices — including our cars. While there’s still work to be done here — as well as some key privacy and security issues that need to be addressed — it’s certainly an interesting new possibility for the future.
Some of the latest cars from leading carmakers have started to incorporate examples of some of the concepts discussed here, but it was clear from the discussions at CES that a lot more progress is coming, and at a rapid pace. As we’ve started to see from early experiments with GenAI, its real potential is to make things that incorporate the technology significantly more intuitive to use. Many of the latest car tech may be cool, but it isn’t the easiest to use, so progress towards making our vehicles truly “smart” is an important step in the right direction.
USA TODAY columnist Bob O'Donnell is the president and chief analyst ofTECHnalysis Research, a market research and consulting firm. You can follow him on Twitter@bobodtech.