Car tech round-up from the Consumer Electronics Show

For a few years now, cars have become a big part of the Consumer Technology Show. We’ve seen new electric car brands, autonomous driving tech and crazy personal mobility concepts over the years. Here are three of the latest top car developments at this year’s show.

Electric Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX with 1000km range

In more car news at CES, Mercedes-Benz has announced its advanced allelectric car concept, the Vision EQXX. While the German automaker has debuted it luxury electric EQS this past year, the Vision EQXX gives us a glimpse of what we can expect in upcoming electric models.

The standout feature is an unprecedented 1000km range, making it possible to drive from Sydney to Melbourne without range anxiety or planning charge-up stops. The EQXX’s design is ultra-sleek with 4 doors, sloping roofline and a low wind-drag extended tail. While the design may polarise, it’s all about efficiency with a smaller frontal area than a micro car and a rear track that’s 50mm narrower than the front. 

sleek mercedes car concept

Other efficiency-focused tech includes 20-inch forged magnesium wheels, low resistance Bridgestone Turanza Eco tyres, retractable rear diffuser, dynamic cooling shutters and front bumper ‘air curtains’.

Power is delivered via an efficient electric “drive unit” on the rear axle, which has been developed by Mercedes-AMG’s Formula One engineers. It’s good for 150kW, so don’t expect fast o-100 times. The battery is also advanced, with just under 100kWh, but 30 percent lighter than similar capacity units used in Mercedes’s production cars. There’s also a 900-volt electrical architecture, which is 100-volts higher than Porsche’s system, for ultra-fast charging.

We don’t expect the Vision EQXX to enter production in its current guise, but the technology demonstrated in it will seep into upcoming Mercedes electric models. For more details, watch Mercedes’s Vision EQXX premiere video.

BMW iX Flow with colour changing paint

Ever wanted to change the colour of your car at the touch of a button? BWM has just shown off its new colour paint changing technology on an actual car at CES. The BMW iX Flow was shown to change from white to dark grey, which was triggered electronically.  with the help of E Ink, the stuff used in e-readers and the old Pebble Watch. Essentially, BMW has taken E Ink, the stuff used in e-readers and the old Pebble Watch, and figured out how to coat a car with it. Apparently, the surface coating contains millions of microcapsules with a diameter equivalent to a human hair. An electrical field changes the positioning of pigments inside the capsules, giving the car the desired shade. So far, the paint can go from white to grey to black. 

BMW concept with colour change paint

We won’t be seeing this in BMW dealerships any time soon, however, as it’s just an “advanced research and design project”, according to BMW. Still, it has impressive applications apart from just being able to change colour on a whim. As white reflects heat from the sun, and black retains it, your car could automatically adjust its paint to regulate the internal temperature, depending on if it’s summer or winter. For more details, check out the BMW iX Flow video blog.

Sony Vision-S electric vehicle prototype

The surprise of CES comes from Sony, which showed its Vision-S electric vehicle prototype and announced the establishment of  new company by mid-2002, Sony Mobility Inc, to explore entry to the EV market. Boom! It now looks like long-held expectations of Apple being the first tech giant in the EV space can now be put to bed.

Sony electric car

The Vision-S  includes a coupe (o1), which is being road tested in Europe and an SUV (02) , which was displayed at CES. Both leverage Sony imaging, display, audio, 5G mobile communications and cloud technologies to enhance safety, comfort and entertainment. Internal and external sensors allow extensive monitoring to assist driving; speakers within the seats provide Sony’s spatial audio system; a panoramic screen gives control of the infotainment system, and rear seat displays allow 5G streaming of PS5 games from a remote console. For more details, visit the Vision-S website.

For more of the latest CES developments, visit our CES 2022 Hub and be sure to check in our our GadgetGuy CES Live Blog.