Sony Entering the Electric Vehicle Market

At CES this year, everyone expected Sony to unveil the new PS5 video game console, but instead it unveiled a logo. Meanwhile, absolutely no one expected Sony to reveal its own electric vehicle, but on Monday night the company drove one out onstage.

It’s called Vision-S. According to a press release, that’s the name of Sony’s new mobility initiative, and this EV is the “first prototype vehicle to result from [it].” The four-door sedan has a healthy dose of Tesla and a pinch of the Porsche Taycan in the design, but the noteworthy developments are all in the technology.

The Verge was at the reveal in Las Vegas, Nevada. Here is Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida speaking about the Vision-S vehicle:

That’s right, Yoshida says nothing about horsepower, motors or range. But that’s not the point. As The Verge writes, it “is meant to showcase the Japanese tech conglomerate’s many different strengths, from entertainment products to camera sensors and more,” specifically as they pertain to applications within the automotive and mobility industries.

Sony’s EV stands out from others in the field with its 33 sensors “embedded within the vehicle, in order to detect and recognise people and objects inside and outside the car, and provide highly advanced driving support,” according to the press release. (A taste of the autonomous driving tech which is a big part of the company’s mobility strategy.) But it also follows suit with the industry in other aspects, including the car’s panoramic screen which runs from the driver to the passenger side, eschewing a traditional dashboard.

Yoshida’s presentation was short, and Sony hasn’t followed up with many additional details (like, say, if they will release an actual car or if this is simply a proof of concept). But the CEO did say that the car’s platform could accommodate other vehicles types, such as SUVs.

When we said the car industry is becoming more like the tech industry, we meant it.

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