Sony reveals more details about the unexpected electric car investment
The electronics giant said that there were no plans to release the electric car, but a year later Sony seems to be working intensively with Vision-S – and pouring large resources into the project.
That Sony presented the prototype of an electric car was one of the big news during last year’s CES. In January 2020, Sony said that it did not intend to mass-produce the car. But a year later, there seems to be frantic work going on to produce a production-capable version of “Vision-S”.
During CES, Sony confirmed that it has now completed its initial tests in Austria, on track as well as public road, and the company has released a number of videos showing how the work is progressing. Among other things, Sony says that it will increase the number of sensors from 33 to 40.
The engineers have experimented to see how far you can drive the car’s sensor capacity, and they have created a system that as far as possible can verify the vehicle’s safety details. Great focus has also been placed on creating a relaxing environment inside the cabin, and unsurprisingly, the electronics giant aims to add more entertainment for the passengers.
Magna Steyr in the picture
It is also clear that Sony has taken on board a number of external companies to fill in its own gaps in vehicle development – including the Austrian carmaker Magna Steyr and the software developers Aimotive, which works with autonomous vehicles.
– Here at Aimotive, we focus mainly on camera-based and automated functions, primarily in combination with radar. In this project, we get the opportunity to use the market’s best camera from Sony to make our solutions even more accessible, says Gábor Pongràcz, technology developer at Aimotive.
3d camera in the cabin
The 3D camera in the passenger compartment must be able to interpret the driver’s condition and ability to concentrate by reading face and body movements. The video also promises an interface between man and machine that is unique in the field of mobility. According to Carscoops, the centrally located infotainment screen has replaced the traditional menus and their submenus with what are more like apps.
The performance previously stated is that the four-wheel drive car gets two electric motors of 200 kilowatts respectively, which will deliver 0-100 in 4.8 seconds and a maximum speed of 240 km / h.
