One of the biggest news of CES 2020 is Sony’s car release. Sony the digital giant, which has a lot of expertise in the field of sensors and entertainment hardwares, released a concept car named VISION-S.
VISION-S has a typical electric car look, aerodynamic design, a closed grille. The chassis of this car is developed by Sony and Magna.
Magna is the well-known chassis supplier in the automotive industry. In addition, Sony also partners with include Bosch, Continental, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, BlackBerry and more.
Sony focused on technology and interior parts of the vehicle in the release keynote. VISION-S has 33 sensors which used in areas such as autonomous driving and Internet of cars.
What’s interesting is the interior of VISION-S, a large screen traversing the center console. In fact, this large screen-led interior layout could be a design solution that Sony bought from its supplier. Buying a solution is a common occurrence in the automotive industry.
Sony has always been a pro for screens, from smart phone to super large screen 8K TV. You will be satisfied with the screen in the VIONS-S as well.
Sony is also good at sensors, which important for electric car. For example, in the matter of making CMOS, Sony has always been the best supplier in the industry. Sony’s CMOS is so popular that its production capacity can’t full fill the demand of mobile phone manufacturers all over the world. In its professional field, Sony is invincible.
Currently there are currently two mainstream hardware solutions for autonomous driving. One is a camera-based vision solution. This solution has the advantage of low cost. The other is a lidar sensor based solution. It’s theoretically safer but expensive.
Sony said that their image sensor and radar sensor fusion solution has been implemented. Toyota and Lexus have equipped with Sony’s CMOS solution, and got very good results in the JNCAP automatic emergency braking test at night.
If you recall the last two CES, you may find that, Sony’s has planned to enter the auto industry for a long time.
At CES 2018, Sony stepped into autonomous driving area by using image sensors as eyes of vehicle. At the exhibition booth, Sony provided a series of scene-based simulation experiences for the audience. Through Sony products and technologies, the experiencers can conduct 360-degree inspections around the car, in driving conditions such as low light and backlight, to predict the danger in advance and avoid it.
Based on its strong CMOS technology, Sony plays an important role of the car camera supplier. Sony’s ambitions won’t stop there, but its ambitions may not be enough to build cars which requires a complete set of solutions, including autonomous driving, in-car entertainment, etc. Today’s VISION-S is more like a solution model showing Sony could be not only a hardware supplier but a solution provider in automobile industry.
Aia 