Sony The Vision-S Concept, one of the biggest surprises at CES last year, has yet to fade away after the tech trade show ends.
Vision-S is back in a series of new videos released by Sony during 2021 these, That started on Monday. two Videos The Vision-S prototype was shown while driving on a private track Then the public roads in Austria. But it’s a third, longer video (included below) that sheds more light on how Sony designed and developed the prototype and its partners and some of the technologies under the hood.
Importantly, the Vision-S prototype also appears to be just a starting point for Sony, according to Frank Steyr, president of auto contract manufacturer Magna Steyr, one of Sony’s partners in the project. Stein, who was interviewed in a nearly 9-minute video, suggests that Sony and Magna’s partnership will continue, comments that may help quell speculation that the prototype was just foreplay.
The video, along with more information on its website, indicates that Sony and its many partners have developed the vehicle further over the past year.
Sony has increased the number of sensors in the car to 40 to allow 360-degree awareness and is experimenting with ways to increase its capabilities, according to Izumi Kawanishi, the company’s senior vice president who appeared in the video. He said Sony has also created a system to verify the safety and security of its connected vehicle.
The dashboard length display, shown below, has five playing card-sized tiles in the center labeled Camera, Settings, Navigation, Music, and Video.
Image credits: Sony / screenshot
The video footage suggests several other features added or under development, including voice assistant, gesture control, entertainment such as video games, the ability to wirelessly update the car’s software, 5G connectivity, and a driver monitoring system that uses the cabin camera input. This camera, which Sony describes in more detail on its website, is particularly interesting.
The camera is used to identify and recognize the passenger’s condition. If it detects a passenger sleeping in the back seat, the car will automatically control the climate around that seat to the appropriate temperature, according to Sony. The system continues to evolve through daily use, and learns the driver’s preferred temperature, music and driving methods. The company says actual driving data is used to make the space more comfortable.
The video showed a host of Vision-S partners, including Bosch and Continental, Hungarian start-up AIMotive, software company Elektrobit Automotive, French car supplier Valeo, telecommunications giant Vodafone and German auto parts maker ZF Group. The group of partners, which also includes map company HERE, Nvidia, Blackberry / QNX and Qualcomm, leaves no doubt that one day there will be a Sony car consumers can buy.
“Getting close to people is the direction of our company,” said Izumi Kawanishi, Senior Vice President, Sony Corporation, in the video. “I believe mobility is a tool to achieve this.”
