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This year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is not only the best consumer products show for years, but it also gave automakers a chance to show what they’ve been working on for the past two years since the last big CES in 2020 before COVID-19 went global. There is only one thing to say – WOW. The major theme this year is “mobile living space”. Every large automaker started taking the first steps to integrating everything about the modern car with current smart technology – smartphones and smart speakers. The average consumer has a digital life that, until now, couldn’t come with them on the road. Now, the goal is to not only bring that digital personal on the road, but also allow consumers to create a space of comfort, as if they were at home, while moving from point A to B.
Third Parties
Amazon has been getting involved with automakers for years now, integrating Amazon Fire TV for streaming and downloading shows and movies to watch on the road. Moreover, the smart speaker Amazon Alexa has gained popularity over the last few years, and not just at home. It first started with Skills or apps for the smart speaker to activate basic features for the car like startup. Eventually, Amazon made devices that consumers could use in their car to talk to the Alexa smart speaker with voice commands while on the road, without needing to use a smartphone app. It’s changing everything.
A Living Room on Wheels
As we said, automakers want to turn cars today into smart cars, and eventually, a lounge for consumers, and the driver, to enjoy while in transit. This would of course require some amazing artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving tech (more on that later), but at the moment, the future is looking promising. BMW introduced a new rear-seat entertainment system that acts more like an experience. A 31-inch, 32:9-format widescreen turns the cabin into a movie theater.
Cadillac introduced the InnerSpace concept during the 2022 CES. Envisioning a “rolling living room”, the concept came with massive screens replacing the usual dashboard setup, giving the driver and front passenger options to entertainment, HVAC, and many other features. The fancy design of the roof rising to let tall passengers get in and out easily is a nice touch.
Stellantis had plenty to present to us this year, but the highlight would have to be the Chrysler Airflow concept and how it demonstrated the uniqueness of the STLA SmartCockpit. With many automakers trying to create a mobile living space, Stellantis knows that this will require some autonomous driving tech. For now, the STLA SmartCockpit comes with STLA Drive, achieving Level 3 Autonomy, but Level 4 or 5 would be better. Thankfully, Stellantis is being smart about this and won’t be releasing these kind of features until 2028. The STLA SmartCockpit platform will use Amazon products and solutions that are oriented around vehicles and Stellantis models, and via an adaptive, user-interface, an artificial intelligence system will learn about the driver, their interests, their driving skills, and eventually create a virtual assistant that can interact with the driver/consumer.
Robotics and AI
It’s not just smart cars, either. Groups like the Hyundai Motor Group with Kia Corp are working on purpose-built vehicles for shuttle services, personal mobility, and complete experiences like nothing else. The closest thing would be a rollercoaster ride with virtual reality goggles. Called “the metaverse”, Hyundai wants to introduce a future where people can go anywhere, experience anything, through the use of virtual reality, robotics, and physical, tangible features like wind or water.
Mitsubishi Electric is doing something similar, focusing on autonomous driving technology and artificial intelligence that cannot only read the streets but the entire surroundings, even around the corner and down the road. Offering people all forms of mobility, from personal to public buses, Mitsubishi Electric is going beyond just automobiles. Like Hyundai, Mitsubishi Electric is working with robotics to do simple things like delivering packages to complex things like running entire power grids.
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