CES 2025 Auto-Mobility Report: Getting Real

Defying wildfires burning LA just 400km (270 miles) away, a domestic terrorist attack (by any other name) via Cybertruck just days before, and the official breach of 1.5 °C of warming (that’s 2.7 °F for American readers), Las Vegas once again kicked off the year with CES 2025, some 135,000 visitors, 4,500 exhibitors, and around 5,000 members of the press (and industry analysts, like me). ?

Subdued, CES showed “what’s now” and not “what’s next”

Aside from my obligatory testing of smart AR glasses (see my image above; still mostly a toy for consumers, but becoming essential in industrial applications, as Sony and Siemens showed) and translating headphones, my focus was, of course, on the automotive value-chain.

CES had overtaken most auto-shows over the last decade in terms of relevance, but 2025 had little new – and nothing truly visionary – to share from existing automakers. (Kirsten Korosec asks, rightly, “Where have all the US automakers gone?”)

Volkswagen’s US brand, Scout Motors Inc. – one of the few OEMs present – promises not to be “dystopian” or “disconnected” (via TechCrunch); in other words, it has buttons, doorhandles, and a back-breaking solid rear axle, rather than independent suspension. Sony Honda Mobility again showed – and “launched” – its Afeela (now with a price tag of $90k, and a cumbersome website), while Honda alone unveiled a few more “0 Series” prototypes (given the impending merger, will they ever be built?). 宝马 's contribution was a redefined UI; a quarter century after iDrive launched, the new heads-up display aims to enforce “hands on the wheel, eyes on the road” – not quite the autonomous future we have in mind.

大陆集团 showcased a novel, customizable interior based on E-ink displays, and announced a partnership between itself, Aurora , and NVIDIA to deploy driverless trucks – which it had parked outside the LVCC.? With many other key tier-1 suppliers to automotive notably absent, 英伟达 was therefore able to “borrow” the show. In his hour-and-a-half long keynote, Jensen Huang spared five minutes for autonomous vehicles – sufficient to show its long list of OEM customers (image above) – which now also includes Toyota Motor Corporation . Akio Toyoda’s own, short press conference on Woven City was stunningly bereft of any other news or content, save for a gentle jab at Elon’s rocket.?

In sum, CES 2025 left a lot to be desired for auto-mobility fans and future mobility investors – which was surely not lost on the keen observers from IAA MOBILITY .? The biggest takeaway of the show should be that everything is now already electric and autonomous.?

Autonomy gets real

Zoox and Waymo showed off their people-carriers, with dedicated, purpose-built vehicles for ridehailing (aka “robotaxis”) and ridepooling.? On the eve of a new US administration, Waymo exhibited both the striking Zeekr and a Hyundai Motor Company (?????) IONIQ 5 on its stand (see images from Mario) – hence diversifying its hardware options. Mobileye also demonstrated its range of solutions for passenger counts up to 15 – from MOIA to the HOLON – and asked people about prevailing myths about self-driving vehicles (watch here).

A truly positive surprise was May Mobility’s 30-person, electric, autonomous minibus – in partnership with Tecnobus Industries srl , intended to unlock European deployments for May Mobility (we look forward to welcoming you).? Other companies to watch: Applied EV – seen on the Suzuki stand – whose autonomous architecture can be used for a multitude of purposes, from logistics to passengers (Heise report).

Highly notable were the multitude of off-highway autonomous solutions on display.? 约翰迪尔 ’s press conference and entire stand was built on the premise of “Real Purpose, Real Autonomy” – with everything from mining trucks, to excavation equipment, farming, landscaping and your back-yard lawnmower being offered (and retrofittable) with autonomous capabilities (see my walk-through of the stand here, via Roger Atkins ).?Indeed, AgTech was well-represented, with Kubota Corporation , and Daedong also showing AI-enabled, autonomous hardware.

Oshkosh Corporation – maker of the US Postal Service electric “Duck” – also surprised many with a very first CES appearance; its fully-electric (!) fire-truck (image at top) also features a collision avoidance system, its autonomous cargo-handler will surely find takers at many airports, and its Harr-E hail-able trash robot won a category award, noting “Self-driving technology will play an increasing role in our daily lives”. Very true.

Volvo Group shared with “friends” that it aims for its buses, trucks, and construction vehicles to be 100% fossil-free, 100% safe, and 100% more productive (that sounds familiar – to GM, and yours truly).

The fact that most of the vehicles shown are electric is simply… obvious at this point.? Why would any self-respecting company still launch anything without a plug? Which brings me neatly to the next observation.

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Why can’t we have cool stuff, too?

Chinese companies made up some 30% of all registered exhibitors, and often drew the greatest crowds.? The threat of tariffs may hang in the air, but to me these risk further building protectionist walls that prevent the American consumer from being able to drive – or ride in – the best the world has to offer.

As I shared via video during the event, American visitors to CES will be left asking, “Why can’t we have cool stuff, too?”? Chinese automotive globally outshines and outsells the US “Big Three” (that’s now GM, Ford, and Tesla).? Even Ford CEO Jim Farley – who has driven and lauded 小米科技 for months (Road&Track) – admits that cars developed in China are a generation or two ahead of anything from the US.?

NYSE-listed ZEEKR极氪 / Zeekr Technology Europe – already available in over 50 markets, but not the US – wowed an overfilled press conference (see image below), and a steady stream of visitors to its stand with a flurry of EVs . InsideEVs rightly notes, this “should make everyone else nervous”.? 长城汽车股份有限公司 – a partner of BMW, who builds the MINI EV – exhibited its Blue Mountain Hybrid SUV – with looks, brains, brawn, plugs, and an ICE engine. Perhaps not everything is fully electric…

Tariffs are protectionist walls that prevent the American consumer from being able to drive – or ride in – the best the world has to offer.?

The other stuff.

CES wouldn’t be CES without a small handful of wild and wacky things in a “broader” sense of mobility.? E-Skimo showed electric-assisted skis. Memorex (yes, that Memorex) now makes e-scooters and golf carts. Segway makes motorcycles, and XPENG Motors 小鹏汽车 Aero HT keeps amusing audiences with its eVTOL + Van concept; while striking, I dare say this is not the “future of travel” as some suggest.?

That was left to Delta Air Lines , whose keynote address was one of showmanship and mostly incremental improvements. Which makes it a good summary for the entire CES 2025.

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See my report from 2024, “Innovation Deep Within the Value Chain” here

See my report from 2023, “Beyond the Hype” here

The Tesla Loop in Las Vegas is still underwhelming, inefficient, and unsafe

Great to once again see so many friends - old and new - in Las Vegas. My thanks also to Consumer Technology Association for inviting me to be a judge of the CES 2025 Innovation Awards.

Lukas is Managing Director of Neckermann Strategic Advisors, a boutique consultancy founded in 2013 with a unique focus on #mobility and #smartcities. He is an advisor to multiple investors and scale-up companies across mobility, a lecturer at Technische Universit?t Berlin and the IMO-HSG | Institute for Mobility, and the (co-)author of several books and research studies, including the#mobilityrevolution.

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