Unreal Engine is everywhere at CES 2026—from HMIs to simulation and beyond
The automotive halls at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) were a bustling hive of activity once again this year, confirming that the convergence of mobility and digital immersion is no longer just a trend—it’s now the industry standard.
While last year’s show was defined by emerging innovations, 2026 marked a pivotal shift toward execution, with manufacturers and technology leaders showcasing production-ready solutions that redefine the driver experience.
While last year’s show was defined by emerging innovations, 2026 marked a pivotal shift toward execution, with manufacturers and technology leaders showcasing production-ready solutions that redefine the driver experience.
CES 2026 was also a major milestone for Epic Games: we revealed the Unreal Engine 5 Next-Gen HMI Experience. Developed in technical collaboration with AMD and running on the Ryzen™ AI Embedded P100 Series, this project demonstrates the power of “driving every pixel” inside a digital cockpit from a single UE5 instance.
Alongside innovative applications of Unreal Engine from partners like Sony Honda Mobility and Qualcomm, this year illustrated that the future of HMI is interactive, immersive, data-driven, and gamified.
Read on for more information about our UE5 Next-Gen HMI Experience, as well as our roundup of the most creative Unreal Engine-powered showcases from our friends and partners on the show floor.
Alongside innovative applications of Unreal Engine from partners like Sony Honda Mobility and Qualcomm, this year illustrated that the future of HMI is interactive, immersive, data-driven, and gamified.
Read on for more information about our UE5 Next-Gen HMI Experience, as well as our roundup of the most creative Unreal Engine-powered showcases from our friends and partners on the show floor.
The Unreal Engine 5 Next-Gen HMI Experience
Revealed at CES 2026, the Unreal Engine 5 Next-Gen HMI Experience showcases UE5 driving every pixel inside a digital automotive cockpit.
Much more than a demo, our internal project is designed to be the gold standard for visual fidelity, performance, and interactivity in automotive HMI development.
The Unreal Engine 5 Next-Gen HMI Experience uses just one UE5 instance to simultaneously render the entire digital cockpit experience—including the instrument cluster, maps, mini map, control panel, and 3D backgrounds—on high-resolution displays running at 60 fps.
The experience showcased at CES featured:
We are using the Unreal Engine 5 Next-Gen HMI Experience to test and improve new HMI functionality in a safe production-quality environment—providing a view into the exciting future of automotive HMI.
Much more than a demo, our internal project is designed to be the gold standard for visual fidelity, performance, and interactivity in automotive HMI development.
The Unreal Engine 5 Next-Gen HMI Experience uses just one UE5 instance to simultaneously render the entire digital cockpit experience—including the instrument cluster, maps, mini map, control panel, and 3D backgrounds—on high-resolution displays running at 60 fps.
The experience showcased at CES featured:
- Customizable visuals and interactive themes like Fall Guys with controllable Beans, demonstrating game mechanics within the HMI
- Native maps with 2D aerial views and 3D street-level navigation featuring points of interest and iconic Parisian landmarks
- An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that uses photorealistic Unreal Engine environments to train AI systems using synthetic data, integrated with AMD’s driving simulator
- The ability to launch third-party applications, including games and Chromium-based applications, such as audio and video streaming platforms
- Functionality to play games such as Rocket League within the digital cockpit
- A lighthearted colorful assistant that helps verbally guide the user through the experience across all components of the HMI interface
We are using the Unreal Engine 5 Next-Gen HMI Experience to test and improve new HMI functionality in a safe production-quality environment—providing a view into the exciting future of automotive HMI.
Other Unreal Engine projects at CES
CES 2026 featured many other fantastic automotive projects built with Unreal Engine that are set to shape the industry in the coming years. Check out some of the highlights below.
ArcherMind
Software development and services company ArcherMind presented an automotive HMI demo running on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite platform.
Featuring a sizable 45-inch display, this Unreal Engine-powered digital cockpit experience comprises three parts: an ADAS, an infotainment touchscreen, and a passenger screen.
The infotainment screen incorporates a visualization of the car that the user can interact with: opening and closing the doors, changing the car’s color, adjusting the cabin lights, and more.
The demo also supports the use of AI to control the HMI, enabling voice commands to turn on the air conditioning, find a location on the map, and connect to third-party services like Amazon and Google.
On top of that, an in-cabin camera captures the driver’s mood and relays it to the AI assistant, which suggests upbeat music if the driver is smiling.The AI can also detect the number of people in the car and help with tasks like finding nearby restaurants and booking dinner reservations for the exact number of guests.
Courtesy of ArcherMind
Brunswick Corporation
Brunswick Corporation showcased a powerful eFoiling simulator powered by Flite and a future helm simulator showcasing the future of recreational boatings at CES 2026. The Future Helm Simulator is a next-generation experience featuring an AI co-pilot that intelligently assists with route planning, maneuvering, docking, and situational awareness, aimed at removing the most stressful aspects of boating for a captain.
The Fliteboard eFoil Simulator enables users to feel the sensation of gliding over water on an electric hydrofoil surfboard, using upgraded dynamics and responsiveness that mirror true on-water performance.
Both simulators are powered by Unreal Engine, opening the door to highly interactive, realistic marine environments where users can navigate waterways, dock automatically, identify points of interest and wildlife, and even race through gamified scenarios.
These simulations enable consumers to explore future boating experiences, test autonomous behaviors, and validate how vessels react in real-world conditions—bridging the digital and physical worlds and accelerating the development of next-generation marine technology.
Courtesy of Brunswick Corporation
dSPACE
At the dSPACE booth, we saw a demonstration of ADAS and autonomous driving testing using dSPACE hardware and software integrated with Unreal Engine–powered simulation.
A camera-based perception device—already deployed in millions of vehicles and critical for functions like emergency braking—was being tested using high-fidelity, real-time simulation running synchronously on multi-GPU systems.
The simulation generates both photorealistic rendering and physics-based sensor data—such as camera, radar, and ultrasonic outputs—which are fed directly into the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to evaluate perception performance.
The system can simulate complex scenarios with over 120 vehicles and pedestrians, and instantly introduce conditions such as additional cameras or adverse weather like heavy snowfall to assess how environmental changes impact perception accuracy and improve the algorithms accordingly.
Courtesy of dSpace
ECARX
ECARX showcased an innovative fusion demo at CES, with a digital cockpit powered by Unreal Engine 5 and ADAS system running simultaneously on a single platform, powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite SoC.
A 3D “digital twin” of the vehicle provided a consistent onscreen representation of the car, enabling users to control the car in real time—opening car doors, popping the hood, and changing the car color, tire rims, spoiler design, interior lighting, and audio distribution with seamless, instant feedback.
The demo also included creative features intended to show the speed and responsiveness of the on-screen environment, such as a pond with fish swimming in real time and cherry trees that would bloom instantly when touched.
Impressively, the ECARX team built the entire demo in just one month, illustrating how Unreal Engine 5 and Snapdragon can speed up development without sacrificing quality.
Courtesy of ECARX
Elektrobit
This year Elektrobit unveiled EB civion, a suite of solutions designed to give automotive OEMs better supply chain control and accelerate the development of digital cockpits and applications for software-defined vehicles (SDVs).
EB civion leverages Unreal Engine as a core component of its HMI software stack, uses it to power the 3D visualization of ADAS scenarios, and more. Features such as simulated target displays enable rapid prototyping, while Niagara supports dynamic vehicle visual effects, level streaming handles large-scale ADAS data efficiently, and the material system powers real-time sensor visualization.
At their booth, the team also highlighted how to build and validate safe Linux-based applications using CARLA powered by Unreal Engine—one of the most sophisticated ADAS simulators on the market which enables in-depth ADAS scenario validation and includes high-fidelity simulation and testing of vehicle signals, camera data recording, and end-to-end safety application validation.
Courtesy of Elektrobit
John Deere
At John Deere’s booth, visitors experienced a simulator that demonstrates the shift from manual operation to automation in modern agricultural machines.
Using Unreal Engine, it’s possible to simulate real-world harvest scenarios outside the short harvest season, feeding realistic visual data to stereo cameras via displays so complex systems—such as automated unloading—can be tested, validated, and improved year-round without waiting for live field conditions.
At John Deere’s booth, visitors experienced a simulator that demonstrates the shift from manual operation to automation in modern agricultural machines.
Using Unreal Engine, it’s possible to simulate real-world harvest scenarios outside the short harvest season, feeding realistic visual data to stereo cameras via displays so complex systems—such as automated unloading—can be tested, validated, and improved year-round without waiting for live field conditions.
Courtesy of John Deere
Kotei
At Kotei’s booth, we saw an HMI demo built with Unreal Engine 5 and running on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite platform.
The demo was shown across two screens and featured ADAS and parking visualization, customizable car paint and ambiance, and fun interactive themes.
In addition to the in-vehicle experience, the team also showcased a digital twin built with Unreal Engine used for ADAS simulation and testing.
Courtesy of Kotei
Qualcomm
Qualcomm Technologies was at CES 2026 with a demonstration of their Snapdragon Cockpit Elite and Snapdragon Ride Elite platforms, bringing experiences that showcased the power of Unreal Engine’s Lumen global illumination system combined with a Qualcomm Adreno GPU and AI capabilities.
Their Snapdragon Digital Chassis concept car features multiple built-in AI agents that can answer user questions, help to solve problems, and proactively perform various tasks within the cabin.
Impressively, these agents can work together—if the driving surface worsens, the ADAS AI agent can communicate with an assistant AI agent to report that the roads are bad, who will then inform the driver. The AI agent then automatically changes the car’s settings to make the ride more comfortable.
With hardware-enabled ray tracing, Qualcomm Technologies is able to achieve incredibly high-fidelity rendering for the in-cabin visuals using Lumen for realistic lighting and shadows. It’s also possible to customize the displays with different themes—including a Fortnite one!
Snapdragon and Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.
Sony Honda Mobility
The AFEELA 1, currently in pre-production, is Sony Honda Mobility’s first ever model. At CES 2026, Sony Honda Mobility showcased several AFEELA 1 vehicles that featured stunning Unreal Engine-powered in-cabin experiences.
This cinematic user interface in the AFEELA 1 transforms every drive into a connected, immersive journey. Impressive capabilities include a 3D-native map rendering system, next-generation ADAS view mode on the cluster display that visualizes vehicle perception in real time, and a fully interactive interface that blends real-world data with entertainment and information in motion. You can choose your preferred theme from a wide selection, with the digital cockpit displays, interior lighting, media bar, and e-motor sound seamlessly synchronized to create a unified and immersive world. (we tested out the Fortnite theme!)
Find out how Sony Honda Mobility uses Unreal Engine to develop the AFEELA 1 digital cockpit in this session recorded at Unreal Fest Orlando 2025.
Courtesy of Sony Honda Mobility