Diary of a CES: we explore one of the biggest tech shows in the world

↳ Day 1 - 5:00am

Remember when Mark Wahlberg revealed his daily regimen on social media and the world collectively lost its mind at the fact an adult man woke up to start the day at 2:30am? Well, this isn’t going to be one of those situations. I’m out at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to see Honda unveil its new 0 Series EVs, and to find out why so many carmakers are attending the world’s largest electronics exhibition and trade show.

And no, the 5:00am start isn’t due to serious commitment to the graft. Blame the jet lag. I do manage to squeeze in a trip to the hotel gym, but it’s so full of fellow CES attendees that I can only manage 30 minutes on a bike before a queue starts to form and I come over all British and polite. Mark wouldn’t approve.

Photography: Manuel Portugal 

↳ 10:00am

It’s day one of CES 2025 and I’ve been promised by veteran attendees that media have access to the show’s main home at the Las Vegas Convention Centre (LVCC) before the general public. As it’s my first time at CES and my first time in Vegas, I’m hoping to have a scout around the different halls to pick out some brands that I might want to accost for interviews over the next couple of days. 

Unfortunately, it seems as though there has been a breakdown in communication this year, because after being passed around multiple different security checkpoints in search of an elusive green wristband that will apparently grant me access, I finally learn that in 2025 the rules have changed to only allow broadcast media into the halls on the initial media day. Good start.

↳ 11:00am

Luckily, there is a whole programme of press conferences scheduled to take place throughout the day. Unluckily, it’s all being held at a different convention centre at the Mandalay Bay hotel on the other side of town. I shun the official CES shuttle buses and decide to take public transport in the hope that it will be quicker and more efficient. It also means I get to ride the Las Vegas monorail, and everyone should take a monorail when it’s an option. We all know how well it went in Springfield.

Somehow it takes over an hour to get door to door, with the monorail dropping passengers off inside the MGM Grand casino with no signs pointing to the exit. That’s how they get you. Taking great care to avoid the slot machine zombies, I finally escape and manage to find a free tram from the medieval castle themed Excalibur hotel to the convention centre at Mandalay Bay. Although even after that I have to walk through yet another casino, past a giant shark tank (seriously) and what seems like 18 branches of Starbucks. Could be a long day.  

↳ 12:30pm

Things start to look up with the discovery of a free packed lunch for members of the media covering the day’s events. I realise I haven’t actually done any work yet, but I’m not one to turn down a free meal.

↳ 1:00pm

Toyota is the first big player in the car world to host a press conference, so I take my seat near the front to see what chairman Akio Toyoda will reveal. Will it be a reborn MR2? Perhaps at least an update on one of the 30 EVs that it intends to have on sale globally by 2030. Erm, nope.

Unfortunately, it seems Toyoda has somewhere else to be, because he jumps on stage with his usual enthusiasm, cracks a few jokes at his own expense, gives us a small update on Toyota’s interesting but not really car related Woven City project and then heads off in time to catch a matinee magic show.

↳ 3:00pm

Despite not being on the original agenda, it seems as though Chinese brand Zeekr has managed to blag a spot for a press conference as it prepares to show off a range of its EVs that aren’t available in the US (despite the fact it has just set up an office in Phoenix, Arizona). It’s immediately obvious that it should have splashed out on one of the bigger conference rooms.

There’s plenty of clamour to hear what European boss Giovanni Lanfranchi and global VP Dr Zhu Ling have to say. It’s mostly about self driving, fancy new processing chips and AI computing power, which it turns out will be a theme for carmakers across the show this year. Probably should have guessed. Give us bhp numbers, 0–62mph times and efficiency figures!

↳ 5:00pm

It’s back to the LVCC (which apparently is now open in parts) for the Sony press conference, because the rumour is there’ll be an update on the Sony x Honda electric saloon car project. It doesn’t disappoint, although only after some discussion about how Sony helps the NFL to stream altcasts of live American football games where everyone playing is transformed into characters from Toy Story or The Simpsons.

Anyway, Sony Honda Mobility boss Yasuhide Mizuno eventually enters the stage with the newly christened Afeela 1 and announces that it’ll be on sale in California as soon as his speech ends, prices starting at $89,900 in case you’re interested. That’s the cue for every motoring journalist in the audience to start writing the accompanying news story for their respective websites, while Sony wows some fellow nerds with announcements about new anime films.

It’s probably worth pointing out here that the LVCC is absolutely massive. It’s a 430,000m2 facility with 230,000m2 of exhibition space

↳ 6:30pm

It’s probably worth pointing out here that the LVCC is absolutely massive. It’s a 430,000m2 facility with 230,000m2 of exhibition space. That means it’s over twice the size of the relatively new international airport terminal that’s just down the road. As a result, most of the walk back to the hotel takes place inside said convention centre. In fact, you spend so much time being blasted by air conditioning they’re actually handing out CES-branded lip balms.

↳ 7:00pm

I eventually arrive at a briefing with Honda’s European PR team. The big 0 Series press conference is at the LVCC the next morning, but we’re granted a little sneak preview and handed a press release and pictures ahead of time so that my news story can go out as soon as the covers are whipped off the two cars.

↳ 8:00pm

Time for dinner with the Honda team. Vegas probably isn’t the place for those with decision paralysis – there are over 50 bars and restaurants in our hotel complex alone – but we head for an Asian fusion place. Perhaps we’ll get the inside scoop on a new NSX after a couple of glasses of sake.

↳ DAY 2 - 4:30am

Even worse sleep. And opening up the laptop to find that it’s lunch time at home was a bad move. The emails begin to flood in. Fortunately, I’ve got some planning to get on with ahead of the day. I’ve fired off some messages to try and meet with some of the manufacturers exhibiting at CES, although with over 6,000 members of the media and 141,000 attendees in total, it has proven tricky to nail down times for a chat. Luckily, I’ve got a secret weapon – a Top Gear-branded gilet that’s full tech bro chic. I’m confident it’ll open doors.

↳ 8:30am

First out of the blocks today is BMW with its press conference to unveil a swanky new Panoramic iDrive infotainment system. I spend most of the time wincing at the painful autocue banter as comedian and host Tim Meadows chats to a few German engineers and butchers the name of the new setup. Horribly uncomfortable primary school spec benches are provided for seating too – hope they don’t preview the chairs in the upcoming Neue Klasse cars.

↳ 10:30am

It’s finally time for the biggest announcement of the show at the Honda press conference. Well, it’s the biggest announcement as far as Top Gear is concerned. There could have been a groundbreaking revolution in TV tech and we probably wouldn’t have noticed. 

Anyway, the world eventually gets to see the new 0 Saloon and 0 SUV prototypes for the first time. Honda reckons they’re both 95 per cent production ready, with the SUV going on sale in the US in the first half of 2026 and the saloon shortly after. Hopefully both will have proper names by then. Oh, and on the subject of names, we’re very pleased to see Asimo making a return as Honda’s new AI enabled operating system.

↳ 11:00am

Scout Motors is making its first CES appearance this year, so I meet with Ryan Decker, head of strategy, and Chris Benjamin, chief design officer. The company is aiming to operate like a startup as it revives the spirit of the International Harvester Scout from the 1960s and 1970s, but it’s actually a new brand launched by the Volkswagen Group so will one day function like Porsche, Audi, Skoda etc.

Plus, VW recently announced that it’ll invest $5.8bn into US EV off-roady brand Rivian, so Scout Motors will have access to its fancy software tech as it prepares to launch the Traveler SUV and Terra Truck in 2027. Realistic timescales for the launch of new cars from newly formed companies? It’ll never catch on.

↳ 1:00pm

Back to the Honda stand, which is in the LVCC’s West Hall – thankfully most of the carmakers are grouped together in the same place this year. I’m assured that hasn’t always been the case. Anyway, I’m here to get behind the ropes and poke around the 0 Saloon and 0 SUV prototypes.

What’s immediately obvious is the doorhandles don’t work and are instead controlled by a generic remote that may well have been pinched from a hotel room. That’s often the way with motor show models of course. No change there. Otherwise, the two cars feel pretty well screwed together and with large glass roofs the interiors are full of light. Not many physical buttons, though.

↳ 3:00pm

I run off to take some pictures of the monster LG, Samsung and Panasonic displays in the Central Hall, not quite realising that it’ll be a 20-minute walk each way to get there. Rather than get a jog on when I’m running late for an interview with key Honda execs on the way back, I opt for a gamble on the free LVCC Loop with a whole fleet of Teslas in varying states of repair running in the underground tunnels dug by The Boring Company. There are currently three separate stations within the LVCC itself. It’s a quite ridiculous solution to the problem, but luckily there are no traffic jams and it gets me to the interview just in time.

I’ve hit 30,000 steps and feel as though I’ve got a good sense of why tech obsessed carmakers want to come here

↳ 3:31pm

Well, I’m perhaps a minute late, but luckily the translation equipment is still being set up so it goes unnoticed. After asking the obvious question – “When are we getting a 0 Saloon Type R?” and getting an answer that sounds like they’d like to build a fast Saloon with fake gearshifts – I also quiz the Honda bigwigs on why the company chose to launch its new era of EVs at a tech show.

“A recent environmental change means that CES is more software development focused,” says Noriya Kaihara, who has the extremely important sounding title of ‘director, executive vice president and representative executive officer’. “The 0 Series cars will be software defined vehicles, so it’s very appropriate for us to introduce them at CES. A lot of big OEMs are also now launching new models here, so that is the reason why.” Safety in numbers, it seems.

↳ 4:30pm

Back to the LVCC once again to pick up a few more interviews. The gilet works its magic, and I manage to grab a few minutes with Aptera founder Steve Fambro. Not heard of Aptera? For those in sunnier climes, listen up. The company has built a swoopy, lightweight solar powered car that’s almost ready for production and claims 400 miles of range on a single charge. You can plug it into a fast charger like any normal EV, or park it outside in California and you’ll get up to 40 miles per day of free sun-fuelled range going back into the battery. Not sure whether it’ll be quite as effective in Glasgow.

↳ 5:00pm

While I’m here I pop my head into the South Hall, which it turns out is overflowing with everything from racing sim setups and chess playing robots to water bottle-mounted fans and “the world’s first 60° oscillation electric toothbrush”. Us neither. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s on display. The Venetian (yep, the hotel with the gondolas) also has its own convention centre and is apparently the home for all health and food based tech at CES. Perhaps I’ll save that for next year.

↳ 6:00pm

There’s probably another AI-infused robot vacuum cleaner being launched somewhere, but I’ve hit 30,000 steps and feel as though I’ve got a good sense of why tech obsessed carmakers want to come here to launch products that are chock full of computing power and could soon drive themselves. Time for home, although did someone say that Janet Jackson had a residency at the hotel? Perhaps one more night out here won't hurt.