The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the place to glimpse groundbreaking automotive technology in the works or coming to vehicles soon. Here are five smart tech innovations from around the world:
1. VinAI drunk driving detection system
Here’s a clever way to make our roads safer. VinAI, which is a subsidiary of Vietnam’s Vingroup (also the parent company to VinFast), is testing the world’s first passive drunk driving detection system that doesn’t require a breathalyzer. Sit in the driver’s seat and an air alcohol sensor behind the steering wheel immediately tests your breathe. Within a minute, it can determine if you’re over the legal alcohol limit. If that’s the case, the vehicle won’t start. The centre screen also has eye-tracking technology to monitor the driver’s eye movements to ensure they’re focused on the road. The system also tracks the driver’s steering inputs – if it detects aggressive steering manoeuvers, and nothing is done after audible warnings of danger, it can bring the vehicle to a stop. VinAI officials say it has 88-per-cent accuracy rate. So far, the technology isn’t in any VinFast vehicles.
A VinFast equipped with VinAI’s drunk driving detection system on display at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 7.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
2. Human-centric interior lighting
This human-centric interior lighting technology from Korea’s Hyundai Mobis, one of the world’s largest auto parts suppliers, is not just pleasing to the eyes, it’s also functional. Mobis is testing how lighting can help reduce stress and motion sickness behind the wheel to create a more calming driving environment. The smart lighting system analyze a driver’s mood, anxiety or stress levels by monitoring their heart rate and eye blinking rate. The system changes the lighting patterns and colours to reduce anxiety. The driver can also change the interior light colours manually depending on their mood. It’s simple – swipe left or right like a smart phone – there’s no need to fiddle with buttons or screens.
Smart lighting from Korea’s Hyundai Mobis analyzes a driver’s mood and sets the lighting to reduce stress and create a more calming driving environment.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
3. BMW Panoramic iDrive
When it comes to connectivity and improving the driver’s user experience, BMW is focused on the interior, too. The German automaker introduced its new Panoramic iDrive with BMW Operating System X, which is designed to improve the connection between man or woman and machine by making it easier, more intuitive and safer to connect to the vehicle. The system includes a new BMW 3D head-up display that projects information, such as the navigation, across the entire width of the windshield so passengers can see it too. BMW’s Intelligent Personal Assistant also better understands natural language. You can say “Hey BMW, take me to the closest restaurant with a charging station on the Las Vegas strip,” so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road or hands off the wheel. The tech will roll out on all new BMW models later this year.
The new interior design for BMWs has a narrow screen that runs the width of the windshield.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
4. Aeva Atlas 4D lidar
Look closely – behind the windshield of this Mercedes SUV is onboard software that’s critical to creating a safer future for autonomous vehicles. The Aeva Atlas 4D lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging, can detect items on the road from the smallest objects, such as a baby stroller to moving or static items and warn drivers of obstacles up to half a kilometre ahead. It then displays the data and information instantly in real time on the centre screen. The lidar sensor is mounted high on the vehicle for better visibility. It’s so compact it doesn’t obstruct the driver’s view out the front windshield. The technology isn’t affected by direct sunlight, either.
Aeva’s 4D lidar on display at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
5. Waymo Driver Zeekr RT
Here’s autonomous driving tech at its best. This is the all-electric Zeekr RT vehicle – a joint venture from Waymo and Chinese automaker Geely. It’s an early design version equipped with the sixth generation of Waymo Driver autonomous driving technology that’s designed for ride-hailing services. The boxy vehicle has no driver, a flat floor and a low ride height, making it easy to enter and exit. One day, Waymo hopes the interior will have no steering wheel or pedals. Currently, the fifth generation of Waymo Driver technology, found in the electric Jaguar iPace with a 90-kilowatt-hour battery pack, provides 150,000 weekly trips across San Franciso, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin. The vehicles will be coming to Miami and Atlanta soon.
The Waymo Zeekr RT with the sixth generation of Waymo Driver autonomous driving technology.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
A Jaguar iPace equipped with the fifth generation of Waymo Driver technology on display at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 7.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
The writer was a guest of BMW. Content was not subject to approval.