Text: Understand the original CheDi Cai Limei
"Sony is now looking for technology partners around the world."
A few days ago, according to foreign media reports, Izumi Kawanishi, senior general manager of Sony Group, revealed that the company may add new technology partners to its electric vehicle project to help it build a mobility business and transform cars from transportation to entertainment spaces. This means that Sony is not only betting on electric vehicles, but also has a vision of transforming vehicles into entertainment spaces.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 5, Sony brought a new SUV, the VISION-S 02, which is also a continuation of the VISION-S concept car released at CES in 2021.
Kawanishi said at CES 2021 that "Sony will not become a car manufacturer, but is committed to becoming a driving force for change in the automotive industry", claiming that the prototype is just to showcase Sony's technology. In a year's time, Sony's thinking changed, with the formation of a mobility company and a clear statement that it wanted to promote the commercialization of concept cars.
Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida announced the formation of Sony Mobility at CES, the first time the company has hinted that it will try to turn the electric vehicle development project launched two years ago into a profitable company.
Sony VISION-S
It is understood that although the VISION-S concept car that Sony showed was extremely complete, it was not built by the company itself.
At present, sony's car project is based in Europe, and the prototype is from the Magna plant of auto parts head manufacturer (located in Austria). Magna is also a supplier to BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and other car companies. Sony has even conducted a series of tests on the prototype, making both concept cars close to the state of mass production.
In addition to Magna, German auto parts manufacturer Bosch, French technology company Valeo, and Hungarian self-driving start-up AImotive are all in Sony's car project. Asked if he would expand his "circle of friends," especially by absorbing companies from China, Kawanishi said, "Sony chose partners based on what kind of technology these companies can bring to the EV project, and it has nothing to do with which country the company comes from."
Sony has listed remote control as an important technology in the era of autonomous driving
Kawanishi believes that there are indeed challenges in building cars, but he emphasizes that "ignoring the risks posed by electric vehicles is greater than the challenges they bring." He added that the automotive industry's transition to electric vehicles is somewhat similar to the process by which information technology has turned mobile phones into smartphones. It is reported that Kawanishi will take charge of Sony Mobility, Sony Mobility, Sony's new business.
In fact, from vision-S 02, we can see some clues. Sony emphasizes the safety and adaptability of the vehicle, in addition to high-level intelligent assisted driving, there is also remote control technology.
That is, through 5G, engineers can control the VISION-S 01 in Germany for testing in Japan, and use Sony's own technology, communication knowledge and security technology accumulated in the development of smartphones to achieve low-latency transmission (video and control signals) and communication control (monitoring and prediction). Sony has listed remote control as an important technology in the era of autonomous driving, and has already started testing in 2021.
So, how many people will "recharge" for their faith?