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It seems like Garmin can’t get away from its reputation of being “a wearable company” even when it’s pushing its in-car cabin experience. At CES on Tuesday, Garmin announced a partnership with Meta that entails using its Neural Band wristband to control its car screens.
Gizmodo reviewed the Meta Neural Band with the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses back in October, but this is a new use case for the wristband. Garmin says it would be the first use case in a car. Notably, it’s still in the pipeline and very much a proof of concept. However, at a demo in a makeshift “car” equipped with Garmin software, I saw how the wearable could give passengers a new way to navigate car screens and other infotainment features.
Intended for passengers—not the driver, don’t worry—the innocuous band reads electrical signals from muscles in your wrist, allowing you to use gestures with your thumb, pointer, and middle finger to swipe, click, and zoom in on on-screen graphics. A small jolt from the band lets you know that you’re connected, which was strangely satisfying.
I was able to rotate a 3D image of a car on the center console screen just using my fingers in the air—no touchscreen necessary. Garmin sees the wrist-controlled wearable as fitting into its car passenger experience as it evolves. The Neural Band would presumably stay in the car and be available for front and backseat passengers to control any second- or third-row screens.
Garmin’s car cabin platform has a virtual AI assistant, dynamic cabin lighting, immersive visuals that sync up with the media being played, device tracking no matter which seat you’re in, and seat-to-seat video chatting. That last one is intended for three-row minivans and SUVs.
Gizmodo is on the ground in Las Vegas all week bringing you everything you need to know about the tech unveiled at CES 2026. You can follow our CES live blog here and find all our coverage here.
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Source: Gizmodo