Sony has shown up at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas with a... *checks notes* car?
A mobile technology test-bed
Yup, the company best known for its PlayStation, Walkman, and tellys has actually brought a physical car to the CES. It's not the precursor to Sony getting into the car making business, though. It's actually more of a mobile development lab to show off Sony's autonomous sensor tech and its infotainment systems.
Sony Corporation President & CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said that: "Creativity is a powerful driving force that moves Sony forward. When it is combined with our technology, it is unstoppable. Mobile has been the mega-trend of the last decade. I believe the next mega-trend will be mobility.
Safer and more reliable autonomous driving
The Sony vehicle, called the Vision-S, incorporates imaging and sensing technologies that "contribute to safer and more reliable autonomous driving, and an array of highly-advanced electronics technologies that together deliver an unprecedented in-car entertainment experience" according to Yoshida. He concluded his presentation by stating that in addition to striving to contribute to society, "Sony will continue to evolve as a creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology."
The Sony car features what the company calls a "Safety Cocoon" - a suite of sensors that keep a constant 360-degree watch around the vehicle, and which can either flag up risks to the driver, or instruct the car's own self-driving systems to avoid them. "Through Sony's imaging and sensing technologies, which are beyond the human eye, we aim to contribute to the achievement of safe, reliable, and comfortable mobility experiences" said a spokesperson.
High-tech, high-resolution sensors
Those sensors include a hi-res CMOS camera system, that can suppress the 'flicker' associated with LED lights to achieve sharper object recognition, even in low-light conditions. There's also a solid-state LIDAR (laser and radar combined) system to view the world around the car in 3D, and a software system that Sony says achieves 'sensor fusion' to tie together the various input feeds from the car's systems.
On the inside, the infotainment system uses what's called a 'Time-of-Flight '(ToF) in-cabin sensing setup, which detects who and what you've got inside the car and an optimise the various touchscreens and gesture-controls to best effect.
There's also a Sony "360 Reality Audio" which is said to be a hugely immersive sound experience, which uses speakers built into each individual seat. The dash is made up entirely of a panoramic screen for instrumentation, infotainment, and at the outer edges, screens for the rear-facing cameras that do away with conventional mirrors.
Will the Sony car make production, as is? Almost certainly not, but the technology within will almost certainly do so, as Sony will use the car as a showcase to car makers, seeking partnerships to sell its tech as the autonomous and electric future builds up steam.