Crazy car tech from CES 2018

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Crazy car tech from CES 2018

Six of the craziest concepts from the 2018 Consumer Electronic's Show in Las Vegas

Crazy car tech from CES 2018

What exactly does the Consumer Electronics Show and (CES) have in common with cars? Well, aside from the fact that both start with a ‘c‘ and end with an ‘s’, quite a bit, actually.

Taking place in Las Vegas every year, CES has fast become THE place for car brands and manufacturers to show off the latest technology. With the ABB FIA Formula E Championship serving as a platform for developing, testing and showcasing the latest electric car tech, here are six highlights from the show that could hit the streets in the coming years.

Byton Concept – the latest all-electric crossover

After we reported on the launch of Chinese car manufacturer and Formula E team’s NIO ES8 at the end of last year, it seems there’s another all-electric Chinese crossover preparing to hit the streets. Introducing the Byton Concept, which promises to have a range of 400km (250 miles) from its entry-level 71kWh battery and a full 500km (325 miles) from its 95kW battery, which produces nearly 500bhp. Complete with 5G internet and rotating front seats, which hint at the company’s autonomous intentions.

Qualcomm – connecting cars…to everything

Long-term partner of Formula E and telecommunications specialist Qualcomm has developed pioneering technology that will connect cars to just about everything you could think of. The tech is called C-V2X, which stands for Cellular Vehicle to Everything. Essentially, it means cars of the future will be able to share information (and vice-versa), with other vehicles (V2V), pedestrians and their devices (V2P) and roadway infrastructure, such as road signs and construction zones, with all the information travelling via Qualcomm’s wireless systems, without the need for a cellular subscription or network coverage. Pretty smart, hey?

Nissan – mind-reading cars

After announcing the manufacturer will be entering into Formula E from Season Five, Japanese car marque Nissan used its all-electric Leaf to demonstrate the brand’s latest brain-to-vehicle (B2V) technology. Now, before you start panicking, it won’t turn your car into a Terminator-like cyborg, hell-bent on destruction but it will use signals from the driver’s brain to improve the performance set up of the car in both manual and autonomous modes. Take a drive out of a city and into the country, for example, and the car would….

Fisker EMotion – Fisker strikes back

Think the name sounds familiar? Well, it should do because Fisker has actually been making cars since 2007 when it first launched the Karma Coupe. After going bankrupt in 2013, this is Henrik Fisker’s second attempt at an all-electric luxury saloon under his new company Fisker Inc. Due in 2019, the EMotion concept features four complex but impressive butterfly doors and a 400-mile range. On top of that, Fisker say the EMotion can be boosted with enough electricity for 200km (125 miles) in just nine minutes.

Volkswagen – artificially intelligent driver aids

With both Audi and Porsche – two of VW’s sister marques within the Volkswagen Group – already committed to Formula E, VW is catching up fast in terms of EV and autonomous tech after announcing its partnership with artificial intelligence specialists Nvidia. Promising facial and gesture recognition, ‘flawless’ voice control and gaze tracking to improve driver distraction alerts, most of the tech is due to feature on the marque’s retro-styled microbus ID Buzz concept, unveiled at last year’s show.

Genovation GXE – all-electric, manual, 220mph Corvette

American muscle cars are known for one thing – power, and lots of it at that. But this latest iteration of the all-American icon, by US-based electric car performance company Genovation, swaps its petrol-powered V8 for batteries to become the world’s first street legal electric car to exceed 220mph. On top of all that, the GXE uses a manual transmission which can reach 100kmp/h (60mph) in under three seconds and can travel over 280km (175 miles) on a single charge. Whoever said EVs were slow?