CES demos turn cars into “proactive companions”
In a vision of the near future shared at CES in Las Vegas, a girl slides into the back seat of her parents’ car and the cabin instantly comes alive, recognizing her and cueing up her favorite song without a word spoken, according to Nvidia’s global head of generative AI for automotive, Sri Subramanian.
Subramanian, speaking with a CES audience on Tuesday, used the example to frame the direction of travel for AI-powered in-cabin systems and the expanding scope of personal data that smart vehicles may collect, retain and use to shape the driving experience. “Think of the car as having a soul and being an extension of your family,” he said.
Across the show floor, the industry presented the car less as a static machine and more as a companion that can adapt to drivers and passengers in real time. The capabilities shown ranged from tracking heart rates and emotions to alerting if a baby or young child is accidentally left in the car.
Automakers and AI firms pitch cabin intelligence
Bosch, an automotive supplier, debuted what it described as a new AI vehicle extension aimed at turning the cabin into a “proactive companion.” Nvidia, a poster child of the broader AI boom, announced Alpamayo, a new vehicle AI initiative designed to help autonomous cars think through complex driving decisions.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described the effort as a “ChatGPT moment for physical AI.” In the framing presented at the trade show, the advance points to increasingly capable systems operating inside vehicles, as opposed to only on phones or online services.
Privacy questions intensify as data use grows
Experts said the push toward a more personalized driving experience is intensifying questions about how much driver data is being collected. Consumer Reports’ Justin Brookman said the privacy protections that people expect should not disappear as cars adopt more AI.
“The magic of AI should not just mean all privacy and security protections are off,” Brookman said. He said cars have only recently become major repositories of personal data and that the industry is still trying to establish the “rules of the road” for what automakers and tech companies are allowed to do with driver data.
Brookman also said the technology can feel especially invasive because many people see their vehicles as an extension of themselves—or even their homes—which he said can heighten sensitivity to cameras, microphones and other monitoring tools. “Sometimes privacy issues are difficult for folks to internalize,” he said, adding, “People generally feel they wish they had more privacy but also don’t necessarily know what they can do to address it.”
Even as he raised the concern, Brookman said many of the technologies demonstrated at CES offer real safety benefits for drivers and can be good for consumers.
Gentex booth shows monitoring scenarios and data handling
On the CES show floor, some of those conveniences were shown at automotive supplier Gentex’s booth. Attendees sat in a mock six-seater van in front of large screens demonstrating how sensors and cameras could monitor a driver and passengers.
“Are they sleepy? Are they drowsy? Are they not seated properly? Are they eating, talking on phones? Are they angry? You name it, we can figure out how to detect that in the cabin,” said Brian Brackenbury, director of product line management at Gentex.
Brackenbury said automakers ultimately decide how a vehicle reacts to collected data, and he said the data is stored in the car and deleted after video frames, for example, have been processed. He said one of Gentex’s guiding “mantras” is that the company is not “going to do it just because we can, just because the technology allows it,” and he added that “data privacy is really important.”