Meta has sights on your car – using gestures to for in-vehicle controls

Hot off the floor of CES 2026 is a team-up announcement from Meta and Garmin for a way to control your car systems using gestures.

Garmin revealed its Unified Cabin suite system as a do-it-all proof of concept, showing how passengers can control the car's infotainment in interesting ways. To make this as intuitive as possible, it uses Meta's Neural Band for interactions.

Passengers in the car are able to use gestures sensed by the band – which currently comes as part of the Meta Ray-Ban Display package to control your smart glasses. It means – using the thumb, index finger and middle finger – it's possible to prompt a wide range of controls to subtly interact with the car's systems.

How to use Meta Neural Band - YouTube

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This concept is a working example of how infotainment systems in cars could be interacted with using gestures. This should offer a super minimal entertainment experience for multiple passengers – all while allowing them to lean back and stay in control throughout.

The Meta Neural Band uses EMG technology to detect a rich set of gestures that can make interacting with computers, other wearables, and now cars feel like a natural and intuitive experience.

While this tech is currently able to detect clicks, scrolls and dials, it could be smart enough to learn to translate the subtleties of finger handwriting movements into digital text.

Alex Himel, Meta's vice president of wearables, said: "Meta Neural Band and its EMG technology could be the best way to control any device.

:Once you start using the band regularly, you want it to control more than just your AI glasses.

"We've already developed prototype experiences for the band to control devices in your home, and it's been great to team up with Garmin to showcase its potential in your car."

Garmin Unified Cabin and Meta Neural Band: pricing and availability

The Garmin Unified Cabin is currently a proof of concept which could inspire future car manufacturers to use this or similar system setups in the near future.

The Meta Neural Band is available now with the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses. These are currently exclusive to the US and are priced at $799.