ROBOTS INVADE THE 2026 CES

Humanoid robots, robot dogs, robot lap pets. 

They were everywhere. You couldn’t escape their invasion. 

Several domestic versions were demonstrating how they’d clear a dinner table and load a dishwasher or do the laundry. But these tasks were done painfully s-l-o-w-l-y. 

However, another robot was able to play ping pong with an opponent, moving quite quickly and confidently. 

Like us humans, was playing more fun for them than doing household chores? 

Yet another was imitating a Michael Jackson dance routine, after which he seemed to tire out and collapse to the floor, just like the late, great performer. 

Hyundai Robots

Hyundai, who has acquired the US robotics company Boston Dynamics, dedicated their entire pavilion to showing the company’s robots designed to carry out tasks in the production line environment, working in harmony with humans. 

Their Atlas model was very impressive. A leap forward in human labor-savings and increased productivity with loyal electronic helpers? … or a preview of world domination by robots and consequently the elimination of all mankind?  

But rather than ponder that question, just across the way, throngs of CES attendees were mesmerized watching the Boston Dynamics synchronized dancing, robotic Spot dogs! 

Phone cameras couldn’t record enough of them gyrating to the K-pop tune, “I’m on it”, even though the Spot dog novelty act has already been around for ten years now. 

But then, older performers have always been stretching their careers in Las Vegas…    

Before I get carried off on that track, let’s stick with ‘mobility’ for humans. 

Mobility for Humans

Aerial mobility was represented with several spiffy multi-rotor electric aircraft including LEO Flight’s JetBike, Emotiv Mobility’s eVTOL, and Sambo Motors Group’s eVTOL concept. 

As if called by the sirens of the sea, I also had to check out Brunswick’s new Sea Ray SLX 360 boat, which features ‘autonomous piloting’. 

All very alluring, but I was there to focus on ground vehicle-based mobility.

New Cars Coming Here

While the big US and European (except for BMW) auto companies were absent, several other makers had something new to show.

Caterham is a familiar name to lacar.com followers. The limited production, cycle-fendered Caterham 7, based on the Lotus 7 design has many hardcore owners in the US. 

And now, the company has designed a modern-tech, production hardtop two seater, the Project V, which will be sold here. 

It has the look of the classic, bulbus fendered sports racing cars of the 1960s; it’s much like a hulked-up version of the Lotus Europa. 

I had first seen the concept car at Goodwood Festival of Speed and instantly loved it. 

Justin Gardiner of Caterham told me they are looking to establish a formal distribution program in the US. 

By now, the CES car should be on display at the Petersen Museum. 

Also from the UK is the Longbow Motors Speedster EV, another 2-seat sports car perfect for California’s canyon roads. 

It is battery-electric powered, as is the Caterham, but this one features the Donut Lab electric motors which locate within each wheel to eliminate traditional drivetrains, and in order to ‘add lightness’ and quick response.

Created closer to home, from the San Jose, CA area was the new Tensor, introduced with the tag line “Meet the World’s First Personal Robocar”.  

When the Tensor Robocar goes to Level 4 autonomy, the steering wheel and pedals excuse themselves and hide away, allowing the five LiDAR scanners, eleven radars, and thirty-seven cameras to take over.  

This formerly stealth company has had support from VC’s as well as Lyft, Hyundai, and Samsung. 

Stand by, they say it’s going into production at ‘the end of the year’. They have also signed up for the same display space at CES 2027.

Then there was the PLDYD (Personalized Luxury in Your Travel) concept, with separate passenger ‘privacy pods’, similar to Qatar Airways’ Qsuites, and looking overall like a swoopy version of the ZOOX www.zoox.com. 

While we wait for it to get into production, the friendly ZOOX is already out on the streets ferrying around a more proletariat customer base.

Start-Ups Alive and Well

It’s encouraging to see that the notion “I can start a new car company!” (and find the funding to do it) is still alive and well. 

It’s the international auto enthusiast’s dream, a dream made possible today by readily available plug-and-play components, low-volume manufacturing techniques, and risk-taking investors… very often fueled by California’s imaginative designers and engineers who are able to turn ideas into irresistible physical hardware.

Meanwhile

The more established companies also had several new cars on hand, one being the Sony Honda Afeela 1. 

Although Afeela has been making an annual appearance at CES in concept and prototype form since 2020, we are now being shown the production version, along with its hatchback variation… soon to be available, in 2027. 

They have stuck to the original exterior styling, much as Tesla has done, while advancing the interior’s electronic entertainment and navigation capabilities.

BMW has been a mainstay exhibitor at CES, but with no concept cars this time. 

The focus instead was on the new production, all-electric iX-3 SUV. 

With its the Neue Klasse styling, it looks better in person than I expected, especially in the interior, with its chunky, ‘squircle’ shape, M Sport steering wheel.

Geely to the Heart of America

But in my opinion, the biggest automotive news of the week came in a certain media presentation. 

Geely, which we had thought of as one of the giant car companies in China, came to the heart of America, Las Vegas, to boldly state, from now on, “We are a global company!”.  

Well, they do own Volvo and work closely with their Swedish design and engineering team, …and so they started their auditorium presentation in that way. 

They went on to announce that Geely now have a total of five engineering centers around the world, including those in Germany and the UK, and what they claim is the world’s largest automotive safety research facility (in China). 

It seemed like the global debut at CES of their World Action Model (WAM) was made to put us on notice.

Also note that in a group named Horse Powertrain, Geely have pooled together the discarded internal combustion engine (ICE) capabilities of the Renault group. (If the world was going all electric, why not dump those obsolete ICE facilities? …of course, that was the thinking before the current ICE/electric hybrid-mania).

It was strongly hinted that Geely branded vehicles could be coming to the US in the next few years, either by import or building them here via expansion of the current US Volvo production operations in South Carolina. 

At the Geely stand stood a luxury Zeekr 9X SUV, with its prestige-class styling and plush interior, ready for the streets of America’s better suburbs. 

Great Wall Motors

The WEY G9 MPV from China’s Great Wall Motors, GWM, might also be America bound, with a chrome grille you wouldn’t forget. 

This bold, battle-ready breastplate will make RAM truck owners feel envious. 

Riding the hybrid wave, and believing that the ICE is not dead, GWM also highlighted an impressive looking 4.0L twin-turbo, DOHC V8. At an estimated 500HP, it would easily be powerful enough for a pickup truck, if they had one…

Seeing these ‘Chinese’ auto makers at CES reminded me of the days when Hyundai / KIA first came here, and the many ‘foreign car companies’ before them. 

They may have started out as strange-sounding names to us, with different looking cars, but they earned their chops and are now part of our everyday landscape of accepted brands with highly regarded products. 

Only this time, acceptance will be much quicker. 

In England last fall, I was surprised to see the modern Geely and BYD dealerships already in place, with many of their vehicles on the roads.

Ground Mobility Beyond Automotive

At CES, ‘mobility’ can be a broad category, going beyond point A to B transportation. 

Smart farming equipment was represented by John Deere, who reminded us that everyone in the world needs to eat, and that they can efficiently bring home the corn with their gigantic John Deere X9 Combine Harvester. 

It sat ready to slay a real corn field brought indoors for the occasion. 

In the neighboring booth stood Caterpillar, not to be left out in the development of smart vehicles for construction and mining.

Doosan-Bobcat and Kubota both displayed their way-out, Star Wars inspired, tractor concept vehicles. 

While they may have some shortcomings in real-world application, it does show the industry is rapidly changing, and that car stylists have another calling these days.

Smaller Mobility

In the mobility product categories smaller than automobiles, there were plenty of e bikes and scooters on display, as usual, along with several interesting ‘sit-down’ vehicles.

Strutt LTE demonstrated a stylish powerchair, the Strut EV1. This single seater was described as “The world’s first smart everyday vehicle.” 

Equipped with lidar, and multiple cameras, its Copilot+ system is capable of autonomously navigating on its own. 

Strutt will have the vehicle at the Long Beach Abilities Expo in March if you want to try it. If you want to buy it, the special launch price is $5,299. 

Given the increasing number of powerchair-bound boomers we are seeing at CES, as well as at SEMA, the PRI Show, not to mention at Walmart, what will these aisles look like in the next five or ten years? 

Will there be a surge in the number of these vehicles, special marked lanes in the aisles, and exhibitor booths redesigned to accommodate their footprint and user sightlines?

With over 4,000 exhibitors at CES, located along who knows how many miles of aisles, walking through the whole show has already become impossible for many. 

This issue will have to be considered in the planning of future trade shows. 

Perhaps a smaller footprint powerchair will become standard. Or a bar stool height transporter to raise the user’s eye level can be designed?

Scaling the electric single seater concept down to only three wheels was Dash Moto whose tech features included a unique carbon fiber, one piece frame for lightness. 

Appropriately enough, their most expensive model is a licensed Williams F1 version, in Williams’ F1 blue, and autographed by drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Smaller yet is the sit-on, electric-powered suitcase, which I test drove last year. No longer just a novelty, it is becoming a product category with multiple manufacturers and public acceptance. 

Watch out behind you next time at the airport!

There was also a one-wheel product that caught my attention. Maybe not as sexy or thrill-inducing as a zippy F1 team branded ride, it’s still pretty significant: WheelMove SAS https://www.wheelmove.eu/en from France showed an electric-driven, single-wheel kit that easily attaches to the front of virtually any wheelchair, turning it into a powered chair. 

Although there are other power-adder products for wheelchairs available, and the cost of fully-electric chairs is dropping, it was good to see a product like this at CES that can offer freedom and mobility to so many. 

Following Up

As a habitual CES attendee, I enjoy seeing many of the same companies and their people year after year and checking in on how they are progressing.

Last year I spoke of a bicycle startup I spotted at the show: BIKY, bikybikes.com a company featuring lighter, safer, entry-level, two wheelers for children. 

I checked in with founder Danil Kontsevoy, Co-founder and CEO, who said “CES was truly a milestone for us — we drew great attention from the media and a number of potential investors, so overall it was a very successful event”. 

They were too busy to attend this year as they have already sold over 1,200 bikes and need to deliver.

You may also recall from last year, that InvoStation presented their concept for an eVTOL, passenger-carrying, ‘flying saucer’ which drew a lot of attention. I hoped they would be back to CES this year with the prototype. 

Their website invostation.com is still active. 

I reached out but they did not respond.  Perhaps they are also too busy getting their project off the ground. 

If anyone near Anaheim Hills stops in to give them a knock on the door and lend some encouragement, let us know please. We all want to see those saucers flying above LA!

Final Words

As I have said before, the CES Show is always evolving, and guaranteed to bring you new ideas, far beyond just those in cars. 

It also exposes one to all the hopes, dreams, and energy in the many start-ups from around the world (primarily housed in the Venetian Eureka Hall), working to make life more healthy, entertaining, productive, and mobile, aided by new tools like AI. 

It’s an exciting time to be alive, and curious about the future!