Japanese media comments on "Sony-made cars": What Sony really wants to build is not "cars" How to understand?

Electrification and intelligence are the two major trends in the future development of the automotive industry, although traditional car manufacturers and new car manufacturers are "fighting" for the same goal, but in the concept of car building, there are differences between different car companies. As we all know, Sony's reliance on the car-making declaration at the recent CES show has received great attention. In the eyes of the Japanese media, what Sony really wants to build is not a "car". To understand this, you need to understand Sony's original car-making concept.

Sony concept car

According to the Nikkei Chinese Network, the discussion of Sony's car construction began with a conversation between the two key figures in 2017. One was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Hiroki Toshishi, who was the president of Sony Mobile's subsidiary at the time. The other was managing director Izumi Kawanishi, who was in charge of the AI robotics business, which was just starting to start at the time. Kawanishi believes that the construction of the car is replaced by mechanical appliances, which requires software to control, and this is Sony's advantage. He said: "What I want to do is not pure electric vehicles, but transportation." Meaning, the car Sony is going to make is just a car that looks like a car.

The report also pointed out that as early as 5 years ago, Kawanishi Quan used the "Software Defined Vehicle", or "software-defined car" in his discussion with Hiroki Toshi. It is a car designed with software as the starting point and software becoming the core value, and now a similar concept has become very popular in the automotive industry. Simply put, Sony's main focus is not on the part directly related to "driving", but on software such as autonomous driving and entertainment.

Although the car concept looks very advanced, it is also very suitable for Sony's current business form. But at the end of the article, the media still expressed some questions about Sony's car, such as how to solve the safety problem of the car? And, does Sony have the "run-in capability" to face a huge supply chain?