It was at CES 2020 that Sony surprised “half the world” with the unveiling of the Vision-S , an electric car to publicize Sony's advances in the area of mobility, but with no intention of producing or selling it.
It is a “rolling lab” for various technologies, most related to autonomous driving, but also for others related to entertainment.
Since then, it has been “caught up” in tests on German roads several times, which leads to continued speculation about its future production and marketing.
Now, in declarations to Automotive News, Izumi Kawanishi, Sony's executive vice president, left us no more clear: “we don't have a concrete plan at the moment because the current phase is one of research and development”. He further states that “we have to investigate what our purpose is in contributing to mobility services. This is our basic idea, and we have to continue the research and development phase.”
If there is a research and development phase, does it mean that other phases are planned in the future? Izumi Kawanishi didn't clarify, so this blurring around Vision-S's future is likely to persist.
living room on wheels
If the tests currently under way are used to validate basic safety functions, the Vision-S is also serving to test infotainment systems for a more distant future, where the autonomous car will be a reality and the cabin will be the same than a living room with wheels.
Izumi Kawanishi, Executive Vice President of Sony"We have a lot of content — movies, music and video games — and we have to use that content and technology in the vehicle. To develop such an in-vehicle entertainment space, we need to understand this opportunity and build the right system for the cabin."
Sony is therefore working on solutions such as widescreen displays across the dashboard, the integration of its 360 Reality Audio audio system and even remotely connecting to the PlayStation at home via 5G. And, of course, with the feature of remote updates that will optimize all these systems and functionality over time.
In this sense, Sony has established a partnership with the German software provider Elektrobit, an independent subsidiary of Continental, which seeks to unite all these systems and functionalities, refining the user experience, which includes the development of the hardware and software of the infotainment system. , the instrument panel and the integration of voice commands.
More news at CES 2022?
In addition to Elektrobit, which is focusing on systems integration and user experience, Sony has a partnership with Magna Steyr, the supplier that is able to develop a car “wire to wick” and even has the capacity to produce it — for example, they produce the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the Jaguar I-Pace or the Toyota GR Supra and BMW Z4.
They were the ones who developed the Sony Vision-S, and taking into account their skills, more speculation has been generated around the model's future.
However, Izumi Kawanishi echoes Sony's opening statements that there are no plans to serially produce the Vision-S.
However, it left the door open for more news about the project, which will be disclosed in the next edition of CES (Consumer Electronic Show), which will take place between January 5th and 8th, 2022, in Las Vegas, USA.