In recent years, cross-border car manufacturing cases are not uncommon, and now, sony, another electronic giant after Huawei, Xiaomi, and Apple, has also cut into the cross-border car-making track.
A few days ago, Kenichiro Yoshida, chairman and president of Sony Group, announced at the annual CES that he would establish a new company, SonyMobility, began to explore the commercialization process of electric vehicles, and released a new electric car, the Vision-S02 SUV prototype, which is also Sony's first electric SUV released after the 2020 Vision-S sedan, which has begun public road testing.
As a former consumer electronics giant and film and television entertainment tycoon, Sony's cross-border car manufacturing information has always attracted much attention. However, it really needs to be said that Sony and huawei, which we are most familiar with, its two "car-making" routines are quite similar, first of all, because the main business progress in recent years has been blocked, and the turnover has declined continuously, so it has crossed into the automobile industry; secondly, it has announced cross-border car manufacturing at the beginning, all of which are their own car suppliers, Huawei's statement is "to build a good car for car companies", Sony's statement is "will not become an automobile manufacturer, but become a catalyst for automobile transformation, to the industry to show the company's contribution to automotive intelligence."
Whether Huawei can build a car or not, this has its own opinion, but Sony can't hold back after all. In 2020, Sony and its partners began public road testing in Austria to study the safety of Vision-S and the possible application of Sony technology in the automotive field; in April 2021, Sony Group and Vodafone began vision-S Prototype's 5G driving test in Oldenhofen, Germany, to verify the low-latency transmission of various sensor data acquired by the vehicle to the cloud, as well as the possibility of real-time control.
Today, Sony's tonality to begin to fully embrace electrification has been determined, and the Vision-S02 concept car as a powerful attempt for Sony to impact electrification, what are its highlights? The Tesla Model Y-like concept car has a length of 4895/1930/1650 mm in length, width and height, and a staggering wheelbase of 3030 mm, and the interior space is completely comparable to a full-size SUV. The Vision-S02 is powered by a pair of motors, each producing 200 kilowatts (about 268 hp).
As a scoop in the field of photosensitive component manufacturing and imaging, automatic driving is definitely a highland that Sony must conquer, after all, the technical advantage is there. A total of 40 sensors are installed in the Vision-S02 vehicle, including high-sensitivity, high-resolution, wide dynamic range CMOS image sensors and lidar sensors that can accurately perceive 3D space, which are used to monitor vehicle conditions in real time, assist in improving the level of automatic driving, and ensure driving safety.
In addition, the VISION-S02'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 inside of 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.
From this car I can indeed find a strong Sony feature, look at this ubiquitous sensors and screen exaggerated interior cockpit at a glance, the most interesting is the ToF distance camera in the car, it can monitor the driver's facial expressions and gestures, but also read the driver's lips, convenient for in a noisy environment can also achieve car-machine interaction. But there are also people who cling to this point, believing that the selling point of the Vision-S02 is simply supported by sensors and audio-visual entertainment systems, jokingly saying that Sony's cars are just two models made of sensors and infotainment technology.
This statement is actually not without purpose, after all, so far, Sony has not clearly announced the core information about automobile production and manufacturing, such as: when and where to mass production, benchmark vehicles, positioning crowds, pricing ranges, these key information are not seen, only two concept cars and a sentence similar to "exploring the commercialization of electric vehicles" Spring and Autumn brushwork is indeed not convincing, after all, after enjoying so many PPT car art performance shows, we Chinese car friends have matured a lot, will not easily cover the conclusive, Even if the other party is Sony. However, I am afraid that this statement will be scorned by Sony believers! After all, Sony Dafa is good, although the uncle has stepped down, but the uncle's smile must still be maintained, and the faith is unquestionable.
Write at the end
To talk about automatic driving and cockpit, Sony's products are still very competitive, but relying on automatic driving and smart cockpit alone can not support the product power of a car, in order to capture the hearts of consumers, Sony also has to come up with more sincerity. In fact, I am personally still optimistic about Sony, and unlike the current situation of China's automobile manufacturing industry, the Japanese automotive industry is like a paradise for hereditary families, with new blood such as Sony integrated into it, maybe it can also stimulate the nerves of old players such as Honda, Toyota, and Nissan.