Take a sneak peek at the demos we're taking to CES 2025
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CES, held every year in Vegas, draws a crowd of over 100,000 keen to get a glimpse of the next gen tech and see how the world will move in the near future. Here’s a sneak preview of what TomTom will show at the world’s biggest technology expo this January.
Visitors to TomTom’s booth at CES 2025 in the Las Vegas Convention Center will be able to see and experience a full suite of products, divided into four specialized areas. These are Driver Experience, Future of Driving, Orbis Maps and an enterprise area. While maps remain at the heart of what TomTom does, these four zones will invite visitors to explore the expansive used cases of TomTom’s maps offerings, from electric vehicle (EV) navigation to the systems that will power tomorrow’s self-driving vehicles.TomTom can be found in the West Hall at Booth W311-312, from 10am on Tuesday, January 7, 2025 to 6pm on Thursday, January 9, 2025.Driving a better experience
What are the expectations of today’s driver, and how can we meet them? The Driver Experience section of TomTom’s CES exhibit will showcase how the mapmaker is answering this question, bringing together all the elements a driver needs to make for a seamless, frictionless driver experience.While these elements, from the car’s stereo to its hazard warnings, once sat separately, today’s driver wants to feel in control of the entire system, and it must be smooth to operate.“We have called this the unified driving experience,” explains Andy Marchant, TomTom Director of Product Marketing. “It includes navigation, which is still a key driver component, and includes EVs, because navigation is also important for EV drivers. They need to create a route which takes into account range and charging options.” The unified system includes Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), which give drivers the information and warnings they need to drive safely and smoothly.
ADAS technologies support drivers to elevate safety and reduce stress.“The car of the future is more like a smartphone,” says Gianluca Brugnoli, TomTom VP of Design for user experience. “Some cars are already like smartphones. They are always connected to the internet, they run an operating system, they can be updated over the air, and you can install apps in them.”Eventually, all the components that make up the driving experience will be in one single platform, he explains, and will become part of each individual’s personal digital ecosystem. TomTom will show visitors how their navigation will work as part of this broader system and will also introduce the Free Driving assistant at CES.
Free driving
When TomTom conducted research, the team found that many drivers – depending on the route they are taking – want to stay in control even if they don’t need navigational support. Rather than a turn-by-turn navigation system that tells them exactly what to do, they want the right information at the right time that will help them make their own decisions. This is especially true when people are driving on roads they know well, such as a daily commute.“When drivers are going to a familiar location, such as school, the gym, or the office, they don’t necessarily use navigation to tell them how to get there, because they know the route, and they might even choose a different one to what the navigation system suggests,” explains Marchant. “They have local knowledge – but what they don’t know are the things that are happening that impact their route.”TomTom’s Free Driving experience will use a voice-activated system to give drivers information about events on the road such as traffic congestion, accidents or roadworks, so they can decide for themselves how to adapt their route.
TomTom's AI in-vehicle assistant is capable of having complex, multi-faceted conversations.“It is an intelligent system, not just a tool you can use,” Brugnoli added. The voice system, powered by enhancements in AI including ChatGPT, will give drivers useful information proactively, rather than waiting to be asked. At its CES booth, TomTom will also show how drivers can have a conversation with the company’s voice assistant.
“Voice activated systems are going to be much more reliable and efficient [than before] to the point that you can even have a conversation made of multiple steps,” Brugnoli says. “For example, you might ask if there are any Indian restaurants nearby, and then ask which of those serve only vegan food, or are most highly rated,” he explained.
Drivers could then follow up by asking for charging stations or other key points of interest on the way, and the system will understand that as part of the same conversation rather than as separate questions, building a route that contains all driver preferences as the journey progresses.
The voice activated system will be simpler and easier to use than current search options too.
Free Driving, as displayed at CES, can be best understood as an intelligent assistant or companion. It allows for a continuous, spontaneous flow of information between the system and the driver rather than a pre-planned, fixed route and interaction at the start of the journey. It will ultimately be able to learn from the driver, what their preferences are and adapt accordingly.
As AI improves exponentially, new possibilities will continue to emerge, Brugnoli adds.
The new navigation: Orbis MapsWhat makes all these innovations on show at CES possible is TomTom’s revolutionary approach to mapmaking. While many competitors start with a basic or SD map and add layers as required, TomTom has done the opposite.“Everything starts from the highest possible quality and level of accuracy and detail, and then we take features away as they are not needed,” Marchant explained. TomTom’s Orbis map has centimeter-level accuracy and is advanced and freshly updated enough to power autonomous driving. However, the Orbis map platform powers all TomTom navigation products, not just those that make self-driving vehicles possible.
TomTom Orbis Maps with building visuals and lane-level guidance.The Free Driving voice assistant and Unified Driving Experience are both powered by Orbis Maps. At CES, visitors can immerse themselves in TomTom’s Orbis Maps to experience for themselves what the platform is capable of.
“A lot of demos that you see at CES are essentially videos or simulations,” Marchant says. “We are using real life data, so when we show something that is impacting a journey in a city, for example, that is happening in the real world.” Visitors can pan in and zoom out or choose which locations or features they want to focus on, building a picture of how TomTom’s maps can help solve their own problems and challenges, all with real-world data, and nothing simulated for the sake of the show.
Last-mile logistics
There’s a world of opportunity outside automotive applications. With Orbis Maps as its base, TomTom is able to pinpoint delivery and pick-up locations with a precision and accuracy that can help last-mile delivery companies with the trickiest part of their operations.
“It isn’t just about getting from A to B,” says Marchant, “But then exiting the vehicle and getting to the front door.” This can be especially challenging in urban environments where parking is limited and one building may be home to many tenants, each with their own front door inside. Research has shown that this is the point where most delays occur – and that can be a problem if a customer is waiting for hot food, for example.
At CES in TomTom’s enterprise area, visitors will see how TomTom’s products can guide drivers to the right place to park, then show them how to get that delivery to the front door of the person waiting for it, navigating multiple entrance points, elevators and stairs as necessary. See you there!
Along with these four focus areas, there will be meetups and Q&As for anyone who is curious about how TomTom’s tech can help their organization. If you want to talk to TomTom directly, set up a meeting here.Until then, see you at CES.* Required field. By submitting your contact details to TomTom, you agree that we can contact you about marketing offers, newsletters, or to invite you to webinars and events. We could further personalize the content that you receive via cookies. You can unsubscribe at any time by the link included in our emails. Review our privacy policy.