Surprise Collaborative Effort from Suppliers
CES, the trade show formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, is well-established as an automotive showcase. It’s chased the Detroit Auto Show (aka the North American International Auto Show) out of January and hosts as many vehicle debuts as any major auto show, along with automotive technology news that promises to revolutionize the industry.
Major and minor automakers from the U.S., Europe and Asia vie for attention from the thousands of media, but the spotlight was momentarily stolen by Sony when, 27 minutes into its CES press conference, instead of showing off the PlayStation 5, introduced the Vision-S, a driveable EV showcasing Sony technology as well as demonstrating the capabilities of cadre of Tier 1 and 2 suppliers.
The car itself was not that visually distinctive, almost as if Sony was afraid to draw too much attention to a hand-built car that looked as if it was ready to go into production. “Pay attention to our technology,” it seemed to say.
The Car & the Tech
And there was plenty to look at, including 33 sensors inside and out of the car, a 360 Reality Audio system and a widescreen dash that looked only slightly smaller than Byton’s. Sony touted the car’s ability to be personalized and heralded it as a platform for “what’s to come in mobility.”
Magna Steyr was called for its engineering help, something they’ve employed for a variety of automakers. Other partners that helped put together the prototype were Benteler, Blackberry, Bosch, Continental, Elekrobit, Genetex, Nvidia, Qualcomm and ZF Freidrichshafen. Demonstrating the ability to work with so many of the top tier of suppliers shows Sony is clearly serious about establishing a significant role in the auto industry beyond infotainment. While Sony executives have said they want to “redefine cars as entertainment space,” The Vision-S takes the company’s ambitions to another level.
Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida implied as much when he said Sony’s EV platform had “other potentials.” We will undoubtedly see.
The intro video is embedded below.
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