Transcript of What is driving the future of car technology? | BBC News

In recent years, vehicle technology has become one of the biggest parts of CES, and 2025 is no different. Let's go and see what's driving innovation at this year's show.

Companies from all over the world, big and small, came to showcase the latest developments in self-driving tech, in-car entertainment, wayfinding, and so much more. But despite the struggles the industry has faced recently, self-driving vehicles were still a major element of this year's show.

This is the Zux, and it's a fully autonomous ride-hailing vehicle. While I've been here at CES, I've seen these driving up and down the Las Vegas Strip. As you can tell, they're pretty distinctive. You can see them coming from quite a way off. They're currently being used here in Las Vegas, and later this year, they're being rolled out to San Francisco and other parts of the US.

Pretty cool. Regulatory difficulties and high costs continue to dog the development and uptake of personal aerial vehicles. But that didn't seem to stop them being one of this year's biggest attractions.

This is the Xpeng vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, or better known to you and me as a flying car, and it's fully autonomous. But if, like me, the reason you don't have one of these yet is because you haven't got anywhere to land it, I've got something special to show you. Come over here. This is a land-based aircraft carrier. It's the ground mothership for the flying car, and it can store it in the back over here, and it can even charge it up. Now you've not really got any excuse not to have one.

Xpeng say that the ground vehicle is drivable under a regular driving license and can charge the aerial craft, which has a range of around 1,000 kilometers, up to six times while stored in the back.

The design team have made enormous effort in making it look sleep, modern and minimal. The seating configuration consists of a two plus two.

Okay, so you get four people in here? Yeah. Plus the aircraft?

You lost the aircraft.

Xpain claim they already have 3,000 orders for their vehicle, though with much more certification still needed and a cost of around $300,000 US dollars, it remains to be seen how popular take-up will be.

Most of the interest here at CES is around car tech. But if four wheels aren't your thing, how about two? It's a flying bike.

The Skyrider X1 is supposedly not just fully autonomous, but also amphibious, and has a claimed 25 minute flight time. Don't worry, though. If something goes wrong, it comes with a built-in emergency parachute. As always at CES, the glitz and glimpses of the future are often overtaken in the real world by the more mundane issues of regulation and logistics, and so a healthy dose of pessimism is needed once the excitement wears off. It may be sometime yet before you see these vehicles on our streets or in our skies.