Consumer Electronics (Auto) Show - 2026 Edition

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CES may not have been wall-to-wall with new-vehicle debuts like the Detroit or Shanghai auto shows, but the essence of mobility was in full force.

Intelligence, autonomy, software, and robotics swept through the halls like a bachelorette party hitting the strip for brunch with just a slight hangover.

Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) shared an updated vision of what they think cars can be with (another) AFEELA 1 pre-production EV show car.

SHM has been busy.

They dropped the AFEELA 1 into Gran Turismo 7 last year.

They think they figured out how to offer a seamless incident-to-claim insurance experience for future AFEELA customers.

And they jacked the interior of the AFEELA 1 with what they describe as an unprecedented audio experience.

AFEELA 1 deliveries are expected to begin later this year in the US.

Hyundai and Boston Dynamics made the Atlas prototype humanoid robot strut and shrug around on stage as it ushered in its own replacement (automation replacing automation), the production version of the Atlas robot.

Oddly, they announced that their new production robot will go on sale this year.

They also announced that the entire first production run of the bot is only being sold to, wait for it, Hyundai.

Boston Dynamics plans to deploy a fleet of Atlas robots to Hyundai’s new Robotics Metaplant Application Center (RMAC) in 2026.

In the long term, Hyundai aims to build a factory capable of manufacturing 30,000 robot units annually.

Armed with Google DeepMind AI, Atlas delivers an intelligent, adaptable foundation of a machine right out of the box.

CNET awarded Atlas the Best Robot of CES Award.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang unveiled Alpamayo at CES, a suite of autonomous vehicle AI models and simulation tools designed to train vehicles to reason through real driving scenarios, not just react to them.

NVIDIA’s push into open models and physical reasoning could further accelerate the deployment and adoption of autonomous driving systems on real roads in real traffic.

Autoliv, the world’s largest supplier of automotive safety equipment, just showed off a foldable steering wheel.

This stowable yoke is designed to increase cabin space when in autonomous driving mode.

However, under current regulations, there are no vehicles in production that can actually use the new foldable wheel from Autoliv.

Cue the sad tuba.

Ford announced plans to implement eyes-off Level 3 autonomous driving in 2028.

The motor company said it will launch new hardware and software, developed in-house, starting in 2027 on its new Universal Electric Vehicle platform.

One year later, the setup will be able to perform Level 3 eyes-off driving.

Ford didn’t provide the hardware specs for this next-generation system, including whether the upcoming Universal EV platform will employ LIDAR sensors. But signs point to LIDAR being a key component of the new advanced driving system.

Xiaomi updated its SU7 EV sedan with improved safety tech and a 570-mile range. mashable.com

Geely is eyeing an expansion into the US, which would be a watershed moment for domestic carmakers that view Chinese brands as an existential threat. wsj.com

Nio plans to launch China’s largest electric SUV. carnewschina.com

Nio Firefly reaches 40,000-unit delivery milestone. cnevpost.com

FAW rolls out the first prototype vehicle equipped with solid-state batteries. cnevpost.com

China’s domestic EV dominance is squeezing out non-Chinese OEMs. wsj.com

Elon’s xAI faces probes in Europe, India, and Malaysia after Grok generated explicit images of women and children. cnbc.com

Elon says xAI concerns are an “excuse for censorship.” bbc.com

Elon claims, “We have entered the Singularity,” the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence and begins improving itself. finance.yahoo.com

Tesla’s fourth-quarter sales fell a lot more than expected. theverge.com

Tesla is still trying to figure out how to get the Cybertruck’s Gigawiper to work. notateslaapp.com

Tesla filed an interesting patent for a new type of car roof that suggests they are planning to put Starlink into future Tesla models. mashable.com

Lots of Robots on Display at CES. youtube.com

Engadget shared the robots they saw at CES 2026: The lovable, the creepy and the utterly confusing. engadget.com

Mobileye acquires humanoid robot start-up Mentee Robotics for $900M. techcrunch.com

Trump urged US oil giants to repair and revitalize Venezuela’s energy industry. However, oil execs are hesitant to commit to large, long-term investments in Venezuela due to expected high costs and political instability. reuters.com

Canadian oilsands producers lose $8B of stock market value in four days, amid U.S. plans for Venezuelan crude. calgaryherald.com

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling on Ottawa to speed up its approval process for major projects, saying she wants to see applications green-lit within six months. ctvnews.ca

Donut Labs claims to have production-ready solid-state EV batteries ready to ship. theverge.com

The Evotrex-PG5 RB trailer has an onboard hybrid solar and gas-powered energy system that can charge your EV while you drive and camp. theverge.com

Canada has just broken a world record in nuclear fusion. ecoticias.com, generalfusion.com

Kia’s EV2 will be the brand’s smallest and most affordable EV. It won’t be available in the US any time soon. But it is expected to land in Canada. theverge.com

GM said it would take a $6 billion charge to unwind some electric-vehicle investments, the latest car company to pull back from EVs in response to The Donald’s policies. reuters.com

Stellantis and Jeep are pulling the plug on the Wrangler 4xe. thedrive.com

VW’s sales in the US plunged last year, hit by tariffs and the loss of EV tax credits. nytimes.com

Polestar reported a sharp rise in fourth-quarter vehicle sales, helped by its recent strategy of focusing on Europe. reuters.com

James Moylan, the Ford engineer behind the arrow that indicates which side your fuel tank is on, died on December 11th at the age of 80. theverge.com

Ontario Premier Ford asks Carney not to cut tariffs on Chinese EVs. theglobeandmail.com

Betterfrost has figured out a better way to de-ice your windshield, using, you know, science. autonews.com

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