Although Sony has said that it won’t actually produce the Vision S concept, that hasn’t stopped the Japanese tech company from continuing development. The prototype was first introduced by the electronics giant at CES in early 2020. The electric car features advanced level 2 autonomous driving technology and is filled to the brim with sensors tracking everything that is going on outside and inside the vehicle.
Along with the gizmos that you’d expect
Sony to be pretty good at (cameras, sound systems, fancy screens etc), Sony’s
CEO also said that the car was based on a new electric platform that reports
indicated was supplied by Magna. Sony denied that the Vision S signaled its
intention to start mass producing vehicles, but rather that it was using it to
learn more about the automotive space and how to design for it.
Despite that, the company continued to
develop the car and in July, said the Vision S would be ready to test its many
autonomous bits on real roads in 2020. And in January of this year, Sony
revealed footage of the car doing so. The Japanese company used the
announcement to show off its range of 40 sensors, its over-the-air
updateability, its own voice assistant, gesture controls, passenger
entertainment, and occupant-monitoring cameras.
These spy shots would seem to suggest that
the Vision S is back on the test track. Just how long it is before we start
seeing driver aids and electronics in production vehicles (like Google has
done) will be interesting to see.
