Mazda says it has succeeded in producing fuel from microalgae, although the throughput isn’t amazing: it says it “succeeded in producing over one liter of fuel from a 11,000-liter culture tank in about two weeks.” Once the fuel is extracted, Mazda thinks the leftovers can be used in food products or fertilizers.

The other technology is called “Mazda Mobile Carbon Capture,” which extracts CO2 directly from the car exhaust, although the information Mazda sent us ahead of time doesn’t go into more detail than that. But in November we should see it in action: the automaker says it will enter a car into a “super endurance race” equipped with the tech.

Vision X-Compact

The other vehicle Mazda brought to the show is the Vision X-Compact, which it says is “designed to deepen the bond between people and cars through the fusion of a human sensory digital model and empathetic AI,” which is capable of engaging the occupants in natural conversation, “helping expand the driver’s world.”

“It might say ‘Hey, remember that cafe you mentioned last week? There is a fun backroad that will get us there. Way more interesting than this highway.’ So you make the turn, and hear, ‘ooh, nice merge!’ Then gently, ‘Blind spot, left side.’ And your adventure continues,” said Kaisei Takahashi, designer of the Vision X-Compact.