Sony Corporation, better known for its Walkman music player and PlayStation video game consoles, has swerved into making cars with the introduction of the Vision-S car.
Its president and chief executive officer Kenichiro Yoshida revealed the prototype to the reporters at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, United States.
During the presentation, he revealed Sony developed the car in collaboration with various partners including automotive industry heavyweights like Magna, Continental and Bosch, plus chipmakers Nvidia and Qualcomm.
“We will accelerate our efforts to contribute to the future of mobility,” he said, adding that the company would also continue to focus on its entertainment products.
The Vision-S is an electric car with drive assist functions including cruise control, self-parking and auto-lane change functions.
It does this using the 360-degree imaging and sensing technologies – including 33 image sensors – that can detect and evade dangerous situations around the vehicle.
The self-driving is rated at Level 2+ driving assistance. This means that the driver is still responsible for the car, though the vehicle can perform certain automated manoeuvres like making highway entrances and exits, lane changes and merges.
The smart vehicle also uses sensors to monitor the condition of drivers and passengers, measuring facial expression and body movement to gauge their concentration and fatigue levels, and will even send alerts as necessary.
Sony’s page for the Vision S stated the vehicle is equipped with 5G connectivity, always-on connectivity, Artificial Intelligence, plus cloud technology for auto-updates.
Hardware wise, Vision-S’s front seats have a panoramic screen display and also interactive user interface, plus 360 Reality Audio speakers built into each seat.
Sony did not reveal when or even if the prototype car would become commercially available.
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