The 12 coolest concept cars at CES

Faraday Future
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

Cars were the center of attention this year at CES. 

Advertisement

From BMW's new driverless car concept to Toyota's futuristic hydrogen powered city car, we rounded up our favorite concept cars showing at the tech conference this year. 

Advertisement

Mercedes’ sleek-looking “Concept Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile” made its US debut at CES this week.

mercedes IAA
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

Mercedes IAA concept got a tech upgrade for its big premiere in the US. 

The company showed off an enhanced interface and user experience design inside the car at the show, which had previously not been seen.

Mercedes partnered with the chip maker Nvidia and The Foundry, a creative software firm, to show 3D renderings in the car in real-time.

Advertisement

BMW unveiled its sleek-looking driverless car concept called the BMW iVision Future Interaction.

BMW_iVision_Car_03
AP

The iVision Future Interaction is a two-seater convertible that doesn't have any mirrors. Instead the mirrors have been replaced with cameras. 

The car also has a 21-inch display on the dash that can be controlled via touch, voice, or with gestures. 

Learn more about BMW's awesome driverless car concept here.

Advertisement

Audi showed off its high-tech e-tron quattro, an all-electric concept car with a range of more than 300 miles on a single charge.

Audi e-tron quattro
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

Audi first revealed its e-tron quatrro in late 2015. But the company gave us a closer look at the car's high-tech digital dashboard at CES. 

The e-tron quattro, which is expected to go into production in 2018, has a range of 310 miles on a single charge and has solar panels on the roof to provide extra power. 

You can read more about the e-tron quattro's high-tech features here. 

Advertisement

Faraday Future took the wraps off its first concept car.

Faraday Future
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

The mysterious electric car startup Faraday Future unveiled the FFZero1 race car. 

Faraday focused on showcasing performance in its first concept car. The FFZero1 boasts more than 1,000 horsepower and can go up to 200 miles per hour.

While the vehicle is a true concept car and does not drive, it's features give us an idea of what the company has in store for it production vehicles. You can read more about the innovations we will likely see in its future vehicles here. 

Advertisement

Volkswagen revealed its BUDD-e concept, its vision of future electric cars.

Volkswagen BUDD e 1
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

The BUDD-e is all about being connected. 

The car, which is a throwback to the Volkswagen Microbus, integrates with your smarthome devices so that you can take control of your home from your car and visa versa.

The concept vehicle has a range of 373 miles on a single charge and has some pretty impressive features, including a gesture controlled interface. 

Advertisement

General Motors showed off a pre-production model of its all-electric Chevrolet Bolt, which will become available later this year.

Chevy Bolt
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

Chevrolet's all-electric Bolt will have a range of more than 200 miles on a single charge and price around $30,000 after tax incentives. 

The vehicle also has some pretty innovative features including wireless charging for your devices, low-Bluetooth connectivity, and a 10.2 customizeable touchscreen display on the car's console. 

You can read more about the car's killer features here. 

Advertisement

The Ford GT was named the official car of CES 2016.

Ford GT Supercar
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

The Ford GT, which is slated to go into production late next year, is all about great aerodynamics.

The supercar features a sleek two-door coupe body shell that is composed of mostly carbon fiber and aluminum. It's powered by a lightweight, but powerful twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6 engine that produces more than 600 horsepower.

The lightweight design of the car allows for aerodynamic efficiency, helping reduce drag and improving downforce and stability. The Ford GT also features windshields made of gorilla glass, a glass typically used on smartphone because it is resistant to scratches. 

The Swiss auto company Rinspeed made good on its promise to deliver its high-tech concept car called ∑tos at the conference.

Rinspeed sports concept car
Rinspeed

The ∑tos is basically a souped up BMW i8 and features its own drone, a built-in landing pad for the drone, wireless charging, and a Siri-like virtual assistant, among other things.

Advertisement

McLaren revealed its 675LT JVCKenwood, a high-tech concept car that comes with a steering wheel that looks like a video game controller.

McLaren 675LT JVCKENWOOD
McLaren

McLaren partnered with the Japanese electronic maker JVC Kenwood to design the 675LT

The vehicle features a number of autonomous features, including a heads-up display that shows vital information on the driver's dash and an advanced driving safety system that alerts the driver of possible dangers, like when it's driving too close to another vehicle or a pedestrian. 

Advertisement

Toyota brought its futuristic, hydrogen powered FCV Plus concept to show.

Toyota FCV Plus
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

The FCV Plus, which the company first debuted at the Tokyo Auto Show in October, is Toyota's vision of the ideal eco-friendly city vehicle. 

While this vehicle will most certainly not be produced for consumers, it does give us an idea of where the company is heading. 

Toyota has been developing fuel cell technology for more than 20 years, and began rolling out its hydrogen fuel cell-powered car, the Mirai, to some customers in California in October. By 2017, the company aims to have as many as 3,000 Mirais on the road in the US.

The FCV Plus is unlikely to go into production any time soon, as it’s designed for when hydrogen energy is in widespread use. However, until then, it’s still a pretty impressive concept of what is possible in a world where clean hydrogen is easy to come by.

Advertisement

Toyota also brought along its FV2 concept, a car that you steer by leaning.

Toyota FV2
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

Toyota first revealed its FV2 concept in 2013, but the company brought the fun concept car to CES to show off how different vehicles may be in the future. 

The FV2 looks like a little pod car, but the top of the FV2 opens up vertically and the user can drive the vehicle standing up. 

The idea behind the FV2 is that even though cars are becoming more autonomous, driving should still be fun. A person controls the FV2 by shifting his or her body weight left and right, front and back. 

To enhance safety, the car is also networked so that it can communicate with infrastructure and other vehicles and warn the driver about any dangers. 

The car also learns the driver's preferences and personality and responds to the driver recommended destinations based on the person's mood. The exterior of the car is basically a giant display and the driver can change the color of the vehicle and display information at will. 

 

Advertisement

This funky hot rod is another futuristic Toyota concept called the Kikai, which means Machine in Japanese.

Toyota Kikai
Cadie Thompson/Tech Insider

The Kikai is one concept vehicle that is not focused on digital displays and high-tech features. Rather, it exposes the inner workings of a car, making them part of the exterior. 

Toyota describes the vehicle as "A true concept car, simultaneously free from and reliant on the core concepts of automobiles."

The Kikai, which was originally revealed at the Tokyo Auto Show in October, is meant to show that the machine under all that technology is really the heart of the car. 

 

Transportation Ford
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.