At the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which officially opened on the 7th, the smart vehicle ecosystem in the AI era became one of the most popular exhibition themes. From global tech giants to emerging car brands, from veteran automotive companies to cross-industry players, artificial intelligence is integrating into smart cabins and autonomous driving technologies at an unprecedented speed. Whether it’s Nvidia using the Cosmos world model to reshape the “brain” of cars or automakers partnering with electronics giants to create smart cabins, many booths were competing to showcase the endless possibilities of “future mobility.” At this wave of intelligence, Chinese and foreign brands showcased a fierce competition in AI technology at CES.
Chinese Companies Attracting Great Interest
Chinese companies shone brightly at this year’s consumer electronics show. According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post, despite the escalating technological competition between Beijing and Washington, the number of Chinese exhibitors is bouncing back. In 2024, approximately 1,115 Chinese companies participated in CES. According to the event’s official website, over 1,300 Chinese companies are displaying their latest products at CES this year.
Xpeng Huitian’s Vice President, Qiu Mingquan, stated that they felt the high influence of Chinese technology in the global tech and innovation market. The booth was packed with people, and many tech enthusiasts and aviation fans showed immense interest in the products and technologies, while global media gave high praise to the products and technology from Chinese companies. Xpeng Motors showcased its “Land Aircraft Carrier.” This six-wheeled electric concept car also functions as a launching platform for an electric aircraft. The “Land Aircraft Carrier” consists of two parts: a land-going body and a flying body. It features the world’s first onboard automatic separation and coupling mechanism. The flying part can accommodate two people and can be deployed with the press of a button. The pilot can control the vehicle using a remote from inside or outside the car. After the product’s debut at CES, Xpeng’s stock price opened high and surged on the 8th.
Another Chinese company, Zeekr, showcased its intelligent driving domain controller, which integrates Nvidia’s DRIVE AGX Thor system-on-chip and supports a variety of smart driving and parking functions. The controller is set to go into mass production in 2025. Zeekr also announced an expansion of its partnership with Qualcomm to enhance infotainment features. With Qualcomm’s latest technology, Zeekr vehicles will offer a smarter and more efficient cabin experience.
Qiu Mingquan stated that AI is the core of this exhibition. Chinese companies, including Xpeng, are focusing on smart cabins, intelligent driving, operating systems, and other areas. Various automakers and supply chain companies have brought their latest products and technologies, and while visiting, they also discussed their experiences and views on product technology development and industry trends with other industry peers.
U.S., Japanese, and Korean Companies Showcasing Technological Crossovers
How to better apply AI in automotive mobility was a key focus for many tech giants at this CES. Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, unveiled a world model named Cosmos during CES, which helps vehicles “understand” the physical world by generating “synthetic” training data. These models can assist cars in the same way large language models help chatbots generate natural language responses.
The German Handelsblatt reported on the 7th that world models are considered the latest topic in the AI industry, with tech giants like Google and startups like “World Lab” by Stanford University researcher Fei-Fei Li studying the field. Meta’s head of AI, Yann LeCun, stated that these models could become key to “human-like AI” over the next decade.
At this year’s exhibition, Korean and Japanese companies displayed smart technological crossovers between tech firms and the automotive sector. According to The Korea Times on the 7th, Samsung Electronics set up the largest booth at CES, where it exhibited an electric vehicle equipped with Samsung’s AI connectivity platform, enabling real-time vehicle status monitoring and remote control, as well as managing home appliances from the car. LG Innotek, a subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Group, showcased several innovative products, including an RGB-IR in-car camera module that can monitor the condition of the driver and passengers, such as whether seat belts are fastened, while enhancing space efficiency and design flexibility.
Sony displayed applications in imaging, sensors, telecommunications, networking, and entertainment technologies. Sony also collaborated with Honda to introduce the Afeela 1 electric vehicle, starting at $89,900. The car features a dashboard-spanning screen with 40 sensors and cameras to support semi-autonomous driving assistance, all-wheel drive, and hints at augmented reality integration and a “virtual world” embedded in the driving experience.
German Companies Pushing for Technological Breakthroughs
Compared to companies from China, the U.S., Japan, and Korea, German companies are more reliant on the automotive industry chain to showcase smart mobility technologies. BMW brought its pioneering panoramic iDrive system and next-generation operating system X, featuring technologies like a horizon-wide panoramic display, a new 3D heads-up display, and a hyper-sensitive intelligent control steering wheel. Germany’s Continental Group presented a mini-projector for side windows, a technology that can project external information onto the rear side windows of the vehicle.
According to The Chosun Ilbo on the 7th, few German automakers participated in this year’s CES, with the exception of a few large conglomerates. This is possibly due to Germany’s slower progress in autonomous driving and electric vehicle technologies in recent years. German companies have not achieved significant technological breakthroughs at CES in past editions. Currently, the electric vehicle market is dominated by Tesla from the U.S. and Chinese automakers, with South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia also catching up. In the field of autonomous driving, the most popular attraction at CES is Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, showcasing its autonomous taxis. German companies, however, have faced regulatory hurdles and technological limitations, which have prevented them from rapidly commercializing these technologies.
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