Proof, if it had been wanted, of simply how a lot of CES has change into an auto present landed on the 2023 opening keynote, which was hosted by BMW and featured its color-changing i Vision Dee idea. Sidekicks wheeled out onto the stage included Herbie, KITT, and, sure, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Once the present itself obtained underway, legacy giants together with BMW in addition to Audi and Volkswagen shared the present ground with auto tech companies equivalent to Harman, tier-two suppliers like ZF, and startups turning traditional vehicles electrical, equivalent to Zero Labs. There was even a collaboration that will have seemed like a Gran Turismo unique just a few years in the past, within the type of Sony Honda Mobility and its new automotive model, Afeela.

With extra automotive information popping out of CES this week than the devoted 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show, it’s maybe no shock that the way forward for the normal automotive present is in query. This was an occasion the place automakers and tech companies grew ever nearer, offering a clearer image of how they may work collectively, and, most significantly, how they may want one another to outlive.

Here, then, are WIRED’s auto tech highlights from CES 2023.

Sony Honda Mobility Afeela

Three years after Sony stunned attendees of CES 2020 with its first idea automotive, the corporate now has a producing accomplice within the type of Honda, and a model identify: Afeela. The first mannequin of Afeela will probably be obtainable to preorder within the US in the course of the first half of 2025, Sony stated, with the primary buyer vehicles arriving within the spring of 2026.

The automotive on present boasts 45 sensors, Sony stated, together with a digital show on the entrance bumper, Lidar for autonomous driving, and 3D graphics made utilizing the Unreal Engine by Epic Games, creators of Fortnite. The first Afeela automotive will apparently use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon “Digital Chassis,” a brand new automotive platform that integrates telematics, connectivity, driver help, and autonomy. Other automotive manufacturers will probably be utilizing the Qualcomm chassis, too.

BMW i Vision Dee

BMW used CES to point out off a new concept car that may change its exterior colour in a matter of seconds. The physique is roofed in panels that work just like the display screen of your Kindle book reader. Up to 32 hues can be found on this prototype, and graduated patterns will be created to mix from one tone to a different.

Inside, the i Vision Dee options what BMW hopes would be the way forward for head-up show (HUD) know-how. Replacing a traditional dashboard show, an interface is projected on your complete windshield, with the motive force in a position to choose from 5 ranges of immersion, from a easy, shallow band of driving and automobile data, as much as your complete display screen exhibiting a digital world.