Cars were one of the hot topics heading into this year's Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas. In the short-term new products will focus on entertainment, navigation, and aids like parking assistants - but the long-term goal is self-driving vehicles. Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are all showcasing autonomous prototypes.

Will driver-less cars happen?

While the prospect of being driven around by your car might still sound like science fiction, we are well on the way to it becoming a reality. Delphi Automotive has been driving tech journalists around the busy streets of Las Vegas in its driver-less Audi.

Lance Ulanoff from Mashable takes a ride

Not to be out done, Mercedes-Benz has shown up at CES with the F 015 Luxury in Motion. Once cars can drive themselves it seems that we will mainly swing around on swivel chairs and play with touch screens.

Video via TestDriven, YouTube

BMW has a slightly more moderate offering - a self-parking, autonomous, (almost) uncrashable car, that you can control with a smartwatch.

The Verge, YouTube

In the more immediate future, Ford and Volkswagen are showing off their new takes on in-car technology.

Volkswagen unveiled the Golf R Touch last night. High-performance hatchbacks have never looked so smart...

CNET, YouTube

The cutting-edge dashboard display features 12.8-inch and 8-inch centre displays, and a 12.3-inch instrument cluster.

The dash offers touch feedback which allows the driver to navigate the controls while keeping their eyes on the road. There are also cameras fitted around the car that can read hand gestures which can also be used to control the car.

It is likely that all of the features in this Golf will make it into commercially available vehicles.

Google's self-driving cars are not at CES - but this video that the company released seven months ago offers a good insight into the technology involved in creating these next-generation vehicles.