Cars that drive themselves and a pair of smart glasses that can translate a Japanese menu into English as the wearer reads it were some of the futuristic gadgets on display at the Cutting-Edge IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition (CEATEC) in Tokyo earlier today.

Thousands of eager visitors poured into the exhibition this morning, eager to get a glimpse of the next must-have gizmos on the menu. For many, the highlight of the show would undoubtedly have been Japanese auto maker Nissan’s self-driving cars, which allow drivers to relax and let their vehicles smart electronics take over the wheel. Similar to Google’s driverless cars, Nissan’s vehicles are loaded with sensors that monitor both the road and other cars and objects on it, turning the wheel and hitting the breaks as necessary to avoid any collisions and get you from A to B.

Cars that drive themselves aren’t the only direction that vehicle makers are headed in however. Their also interested in integrating automobiles with smart homes, using cars as an alternative energy source – something that could be especially useful during power outages. One of the more intriguing ideas was Honda’s mock installation of a motorbike powering an oversized kettle, something it described as its vision of the future garage.

“This is how automobiles and communities will be connected,” said Honda’s president Takanobu Ito.

Other themes on show in Chiba include augmented reality in the car, with Clarion demonstrating a talkative Sat-Nav device powered by Google that’s capable of conversing with drivers, reminding them to take regular breaks. It’s also capable of finding other things, for example restaurants according to the driver’s budget. Then there was Pioneer with its new navigation system that’s able to guide drivers to free parking spots with the aid of signs that appear right in front of them.

Not everything was about smart cars though. NTT Docomo, perhaps with one eye foreign visitors planning to see the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, introduced a rival to Google Glass – augmented reality glasses that can instantly translate Japanese into other languages, overlaying the wearer’s native language onto the unfamiliar text, meaning they can instantly read and understand street signs, menus and other items of interest.

“Character-recognition technology enables instant language translation for users travelling abroad and reading restaurant menus and other documents,” said NTT Docomo in a press release.

The glasses have other functions too, such as being able to turn any flat surface into a touchscreen with the use of its camera and a smart ring worn by the user. The ring relays the position of the wearer’s finger, so that they can “touch” tags only they can see – allowing them to type, perform an internet search and carry out many other tasks that they’d normally need a laptop or tablet for.

Over 580 companies are involved in the trade show, which runs until this Saturday.