The world’s biggest Consumer Electronics Show, or CES for short is underway in Las Vegas for 2016. This year there at least 115  automotive companies who will be showing off the latest  gadgets designed to make the driving experience better in the future in the Vehicle Intelligence Marketplace in the North Plaza.

Something that caught my eye was the new Apline 9 inch unit which incorporates Apple’s CarPlay.

Also, Ford CEO Mark Fields announced that they’re going to “change pretty dramatically” and become an “auto and mobility” company. PCMag talked to Mark about this new direction for the company.  While we don’t actually see any of the things that Ford are showing off at CES in this video, Field mentions a number of interesting things that Ford are planning, and references the connected car and how they are improving the entertainment center. He also talks about Drones that can take off and land in the back of your F150! We will bring you more information about the connect car as it becomes available.

At long last we also get to see the updated version of the VW bug as Volkswagen take the wraps off the Budd-e, a little electric van that evokes Microbuses of yesteryear. You could see this on the road by 2019. Volkswagen’s new MEB platform will enable a series production car to have pure electric range that is on par with today’s gasoline-powered cars by the end of the decade. The time required to charge the batteries to 80 percent of capacity is anticipated to be reduced to about 15 minutes by then, marking an operational breakthrough for EVs.

The Chevy Bolt is also a game-changer, and may give Tesla some competition. It will be capable of traveling more than 200 miles on a single charge and it will cost around $(US) 30,000 after a $(US) 7,500 tax deduction. No word on Canadian pricing at this point.