Sony surprised everyone at this year’s
Consumer Electronics Show with the debut of the Vision-S concept car. It took
the shape of a sleek electric vehicle with advanced autonomous systems and a
pair of 268-horsepower electric motors. At first, we thought the
Tokyo-based company could be testing the waters of entering the auto industry
but an executive later confirmed it is not becoming an automaker.
Well, we are getting mixed signals now.
Sony has just confirmed it has shipped the Vision-S back to Japan where the
firm will continue advancing its “sensing and audio technologies.” The more
interesting part of the announcement is that the concept will begin public road
tests before the end of the year.
As a reminder, the Vision-S has been
developed by Sony in cooperation with big names such as Nvidia, Continental,
Bosch, ZF, and Qualcomm. The all-electric sedan’s main goal was to showcase
what Sony can offer to the automotive industry, including its advanced
self-driving system with no less than 33 sensors.
But it’s not just a static prototype. A
video accompanying the announcement shows the Vision-S in motion and that’s not
the first time we see it in action. In fact, Sony claims it can accelerate from 0-100 kilometers per hour in just 4.8
seconds.
