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CES highlights: Autonomous Deere, Zeekr EVs and race cars
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 9, 2025
Las Vegas — Waymo may have the most autonomous vehicles in U.S. operation, but John Deere has the biggest.
At 11 feet tall, weighing 30 tons and packing 830 horsepower, Deere’s self-driving 9RX tiller dominated CES’s transportation displays that were — wait for it — dominated by autonomous vehicles. Autonomy and its accompanying Artificial Intelligence software are the buzzwords at this year’s show, and the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall mobility displays were littered with vehicles displaying the latest goodies from tillers to rock loaders, and from Audi to Zeekr.
Electronics is driving the Second Industrial Revolution’s digital transformation of society, and the automobile is not immune. Software-defined vehicles are becoming smartphones on wheels and the international mega-show was a showcase — not just for U.S. ag and auto giants — but for Australian firms showing off flexible EV platforms, Chinese automakers offering roomy autonomous vehicle architectures, German race cars developed with state-of-the-art software — even traditional Asian electronics giants like Sony offering its first car.
The offerings were innovative, complex and expensive, in keeping with today’s premium battery-powered transport. Here are the mobility highlights of the 2025 CES.
John Deere
Based in Illinois with manufacturing in Iowa, Deere is the biggest agriculture machinery provider in the world and has been on the cutting edge of self-driving vehicles for the last 20 years.
In an unexpected twist to America’s rural-to-urban population shift, farm America is on the cutting edge of autonomous vehicles. With open access to the sky for Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Deere’s Autotrac system has made field tillers hands-free for two decades. In 2022, Deere took the next step — equipping its ginormous 9RX tillers with control units powered by Nvidia Orion chips to plow fields without anyone behind the wheel.
Deere used the 2025 CES to announce it is going to market with its so-called Rev 2 autonomous system. With software developed in house, the system is married to 16 cameras and the Nvidia-powered control unit on top of the cab.
“The farm operator just needs to drive it out into the field, define the area to be tilled on his Operations Center mobile app, and the 9RX will take it from there,” said Deere 9RX engineer Jeff Runde, standing next to his 18-liter, inline-6 cylinder diesel-powered baby. “Rather than sitting in the back for 14 hours a day, it makes farm operators much more efficient with their time.”
It also plugs serious labor shortages in the agricultural sector.
“We want to provide autotomy to industries that need it,” said Deere Chief Technology Officer Jahmy Hindman at the company’s news conference here. “Finding people to do the work is challenging. Customers can monitor the machines themselves and don’t have to worry about who will do the work today.”
To that end, Deere is expanding its second-gen autonomy system to other industries including quarries, high-value crops like nut and fruit orchards, and landscaping. Deere introduced its autonomous tech stack on tillers at the 2022 CES and it has been in beta testing on a few farms since. This fall, it goes commercial on broad-acre soybean, wheat, and corn farms with other markets to follow.
“The impact of our second-generation technology is immense,” said Igino Cafiero, director of John Deere’s High Value Crop Autonomy. “Ninety percent of the world’s tree nuts and 77% of its almond production comes from California high-value farms. Yet they are suffering a severe labor shortage with 50% of equipment operator jobs unfilled. It’s grueling, taxing work, all done at night.”
At CES, Deere showcased its 5130 ML orchard tractors, a more human-scale device next to the towering tiler.
Equipped with the same Nvidia control unit, the tractor features seven cameras on its cab and adds lidar up front to deal with the more complex environment of orchards that also make it more difficult to access GPS with their low-canopy trees.
Deere also showcased a Brobdingnagian quarry rock loader capable of carrying 46 tons of agate (which will compete with similar models from Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction equipment maker) and a wee, electric landscaping mower — both using the Nvidia control unit.
All coming to a John Deere dealer near you.
Zeekr electric platform
Not yet available at a local dealer is China’s cute Zeekr Mix electric minivan with configurable interior, including seats that can rotate to face rearwards. Zeekr said the Mix is not scheduled for the U.S. market — and neither are the 001 and 009 EVs on display here.
The Zeekr Mix minivan is cute and battery-powered but it won’t be making its way to U.S. customers.. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
But what is available is the SEA battery platform that that will be used by Google’s Waymo autonomous service for its next-gen vehicles. The Waymo display next door to Zeekr showcased its Zeekr RT minivan with lidar sensors on the roof/corners just like the Jaguar iPaces that were also on display — and that currently make up the autonomous, 700-vehicle fleet — the country’s biggest — in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Made in China, the Zeekr RT hopes to navigate U.S. tariffs as a fleet vehicle. Other autonomous fleet wannabees on the floor included Mobileye’s VW ID.Buzz.
Applied EV and Suzuki customized fleets
Sharing construction sites with Deere’s rock loader is Applied EV’s Tech Stack for autonomous vehicles. Built on Suzuki’s Jimny battery platform, the Tech Stack is a base for any fleet operation top hat — like a city van or a construction site dust-suppression water tank.
“Think of us as Apple providing the operating system for app makers to use on a platforms built by Foxconn,” said Applied EV’s Aleks Witko. The construction bot is in use in Australia, Great Britain and Japan.
Race cars
Data and electrification are not just transforming autos, they are integral to race car development. The CES show floor was dotted with high-powered race cars, including Red Bull’s Formula One car piloted by World Champion Max Verstappen and Audi’s Dakar Rally-winning RS Q e-Tron EV that uses a gas generator like the Ramcharger pickup.
Most prevalent were models that made the Vegas Convention Center look like the paddock of an IMSAT Weathertech sports car race. Bosch showcased the Cadillac V-Series.R hypercar that raced tooth-and-nail with Porsche Penske for the title last year. The German firm provides the hybrid systems for both 700-horsepower rocket ships.
Ansys displayed the title-winning Porsche Penske 963, which was developed using the simulation software from the Pennsylvania-based company that has nearly tripled in size — to $2.5 billion in sales — over the last 10 years as auto simulation software demand exploded.
Sony Honda
Last but not least, there were two car debuts — from a common source. Honda displayed its ground-breaking 0 Series Saloon and SUV prototypes — the first volleys in the company’s move to EVs called the Second Founding.
Honda will also make the bones for Sony’s first car at its Ohio E-Hub. Yes, Sony.
Japan’s mega-electronics maker is getting into the car business. With a big assist from Honda. The Afeela 1 is an electric hatchback that looks very similar to Honda’s Saloon EV, right down to the yoke steering wheel and pillar-to-pillar digital screen.
The base Origin model will start at $89,900, which gives some insight as what Honda’s halo EV might cost. A $102,900 Afeela 1 Signature grade will be available with bigger wheels and a rear-seat entertainment system with deliveries starting in 2026 — like the Honda.
The interior of the Applied EV is sleek and futuristic. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
True to the Sony brand, the Aveela features a sophisticated 3D audio system with the aim of making the car a self-driving mobile lounge for watching videos and running PlayStation video games.
Sony Honda. The perfect marriage of electronics and auto.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.