Sony cars are coming! On January 5, Sony's official website unveiled a new concept SUV called VISION-S 02.
Sony officially confirmed the construction of the car
Ahead of the opening of CES, the world's largest consumer electronics show, Sony Chairman, President and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida announced that Sony Group will set up a new division, Sony Mobility Inc., which is expected to be established this spring and will focus on the commercialization of electric vehicles. Kenichiro Yoshida said: "We are exploring the commercialization of Sony electric vehicles. "It also means that Sony has officially decided to build a car."
Sony Group unveiled the "VISION-S" concept for the first time at cess 2020 to drive further development in the mobility space and showcase its prototype. In order to make this concept really land, Sony began public road testing in Europe in December of the same year, verifying the safety of the image and sensing technology installed inside and outside the car and the user experience of the human-machine interface (HMI) system. Sony began 5G ambient driving testing in April 2021 and will continue to provide a new experience for the mobility sector that is transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs) by combining its cutting-edge technologies.
According to reports, Sony Vision-S 02 is built by Sony's artificial intelligence team and robot team, and it is expected that the car will become an SUV model of Sony's Vision series.
Sony Vision series SUV models
In terms of appearance, the front face of the Vision-S 02 adopts a closed flat shape and is matched with through-LED daytime running lights. Judging from the published pictures, Sony's LOGO is cleverly set in the daytime lights to improve the recognition of the vehicle. The rear part of the car uses a penetrating LED tail light set, and the rear part uses the roof slip back and the tail upturned ducktail shape. In terms of body size, Sony has not officially announced detailed parameters, and the new car is based on a new pure electric platform, which is expected to be positioned as a mid-size SUV.
In terms of interior, the overall design of the new car is relatively simple, the central control adopts a through-channel triple screen design, and the new car is equipped with large wheels, hidden door handles and electronic exterior mirrors in the configuration.
It is reported that the SUV has a total of 40 sensors installed inside and outside the car, and its system will ensure driving safety by identifying and analyzing the surrounding environment in real time. These sensors include highly sensitive, high-resolution, wide dynamic range CMOS image sensors and lidar sensors that accurately perceive 3D space.
In addition, the VISION-S system can also be combined with the car audio system and the human-machine interface system to achieve intuitive driving interaction, so that the driver can accurately judge the surrounding environment from the car, such as whether there are emergency vehicles around. Sony aims to provide greater safety and comfort to people through its sensors and communication technologies. The model is currently undergoing functional verification tests in Europe with a view to the release of the L2+ Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) for open roads.
Sony moves first and then announces
In fact, in January 2020, Sony officially released its first pure electric concept model VISION-S. It is worth noting that this concept car is not built by Sony alone, but is jointly built by a number of companies, including NVIDIA, Qualcomm, ZF, Bosch, BlackBerry, QNX, Mapai, Benteler, Magna, etc., and the electric vehicle platform is jointly designed by Sony and Magna. In July 2020, Sony China's official Weibo said, "Come on, try to take your driver's license!" And attached a picture of the VISION-S pure electric concept car.
Although Sony previously denied making cars, but as more and more companies, including Apple, Foxconn, Xiaomi, Baidu, etc. have announced the layout of the automobile market, now more than a year has passed, Sony officially announced the layout of the automotive field may have been prepared, and this action is actually expected.
But unlike other companies that have entered the car market, from the past two years and Sony's quiet layout, Sony has accumulated in the electric vehicle industry, obviously sony announced the entry into the automotive industry is also well thought-out, but the general car manufacturing cycle is at least 3 years, which also means that if Sony wants to launch a commercial vehicle that can be mass-produced, according to time calculations, Sony's first model will not be listed until 2023 at the earliest, of course, this is only speculation. Up to now, Sony officials have not disclosed whether Vision-S 02 is its first commercial product, and the specific car production and delivery schedule has not been announced.