LAS VEGAS ― Carmakers are expressing their big appetites for in-vehicle technology integration at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, led by Audi and Lexus’ unveiling of skills for driverless driving.

“Whenever I don’t want to drive, I can allow myself to be driven. Ultimate responsibility rests with the pilot,” said Ricky Hudi, head of development in electrics and electronics at Audi.

Boasting that Audi is the world’s first car manufacturer that has a license to test automated driving in Nevada, it showed off a sample of its laser sensor that detects objects in multiple directions.

Audi is next in line in self-driving technology following Google, the firm that attained the first autonomous driving license in Las Vegas.

Lexus also introduced its driverless car technology at the show, with it being dubbed “Advanced Active Safety Research” technology.

However, the company’s general manager Mark Templin said it was a “pure research project” that must “build trust with society and governments” before its official release.

Hyundai Motor also made an appearance at the trade show, revealing new applications on its in-vehicle telematics platform powered by Google as well as future vehicle infotainment tools run by Apple.

The top Korean carmaker displayed 14 different new applications on its in-vehicle telematics platform, while organizing them around three different themes: a driver situation sensor system, second-generation voice recognition and smart navigation system, and a telematics service named “Blue Link.”

For example, Dragon Drive, which is an automotive-grade voice service platform developed by Nuance, allows drivers to simply dictate messages, search for their favorite music and ask directions to their favorite restaurant.

Hyundai is planning to feature smart and connected vehicles that link users with their smartphone data and enable near-field communication as well as cloud services, according to its officials. Meanwhile, Ford launched an App Developer Program for customer-driven innovation and value creation, and proposed the 2013 Ford Fusion Energi as the connected car of the year.

GM also said that in-car apps would be commonplace within the next few years and announced its Sync AppLink developer program during CES 2013.

By Cho Ji-hyun, Korea Herald correspondent
(sharon@heraldcorp.com)