If you're a deep gaming enthusiast like me, you're no stranger to the big three - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft in the United States aside, Japan's Sony Dafa (as Sony fans lovingly call it) and Old Ren (as Nintendo fans lovingly call it) have always been in love with each other in the world of consoles and games, and each of them has gained a lot of fans by virtue of their own characteristics. When the old Ren's game console sales in the global crazy, perennial in the host sector boss position of Sony naturally will not be willing to be a supporting role. This is not, Sony in this CES exhibition conference on the next generation of consoles expected to be launched this year PS5 preview. By this point, did you think that today's topic would be video games?
No, just when people thought the main event was over, Sony CEO Mr. Kenichiro Yoshida walked up, and along with him was a concept car called the VISION-S. Nani? Sony has already extended its "claws" to the automotive field? Will we be able to play PS5 in the car?
What the hell is CES?
Before we get to Dafa's new car, let's take a quick look at what CES is all about. Why would Sony release a car alongside its electronics at this show?
CES translates to the International Consumer Electronics Show, which is 53 years old as of 2020. If the world's major auto shows are the big shows for car brands, then CES, which takes place in early January, is the electronics industry's annual show, with brands from every field bringing their latest tech products. From radios and computers in the past to artificial intelligence, VR, next-generation game consoles and self-driving technology, you'll not only see the coolest, most cutting-edge electronics, but you'll also get a preview of what's coming down the pike.
Sony, which has always been at the top of the global technology ladder and has always loved to play with black technology, is naturally a regular visitor to CES. Sony's technological achievements are far more than in the field of game consoles, such as this time in addition to the PS5 information, there are 8K?HDR flagship TV Z8H, can be called the square dance god GTK-P10 audio and so on. As for this VISION-S, the intention is to show the world their attainments in intelligent cars, commonly known as - show muscle.
What's all this "messing around" in the automotive world?
"One?More?Thing". Sony surprised the world at the end of the conference, and got those who were still bummed about not seeing the PS5 in action excited again. Then the stage was set ablaze once again when Mr. Kenichiro Yoshida, with the VISION-S, announced that Sony would be officially entering the field of electric vehicle technology.
Is it possible that the tech geek who sells stereos, headphones, cameras, TVs, game consoles, and even Walkman Walkmans, is now even in cars? Is not to buy a car will also send gamepad, you can sit in the car to play GTA later? For such speculation, Sony official also gave a very clear answer - will not become a car manufacturer, just committed to become a promoter of change in the automotive industry. The translation is that we sell technology, not cars.
In fact, we're no stranger to news like this about top tech companies stepping into the automotive field. For example, there have been rumors that Apple is secretly doing research and development of the car, although there has been no follow-up; then Dyson, for example, sells vacuum cleaners, wade through the water of the car found that it is better to forget about it....... And Sony, although it is a transistor radio home, and then later sold TVs and Walkman, it seems to be nothing to do with cars, but in fact the early days of Sony, it is the first time that the car was sold, and it is not the first time that it was sold. In fact, Sony was not only a supplier of in-car entertainment systems in the early days, but was also the first to lead the way in bringing lithium batteries into commercial use. Just like now, we may know that Panasonic, LG, Ningde Times is a big name in the world of lithium batteries, but we do not know that the inventor of the 18650 cylindrical batteries is now Sony Dafa.
Tesla's pure electric vehicles and intelligent driving technology is popular around the world; Volkswagen has not hesitated to directly take out three years of profits to promote its new energy vehicle business; China's market support for new energy vehicles and so on, all of these are showing that the electrification of automobiles and intelligent will certainly be the direction of future development. Sony, this will not build the engine, do not know how to adjust the chassis, but in the image technology, entertainment systems, artificial intelligence, semiconductor technology, mobile communications technology, etc. are very good electronic giant, it is a good time to appear on the scene.
So here comes the VISION-S concept.
Selling technology, not cars
While the VISION-S is a concept car, it's true that it doesn't seem to be conceptual at all, or at least it's not revolutionary, and the whole thing looks as if it's just a matter of putting physical mirrors on it to get it into mass production. But as mentioned at the beginning, Sony isn't even trying to mass produce it, at least not yet. That's why it doesn't really matter what the VISION-S looks like - it's just a vehicle, or a big bowl, full of goodies.
In fact, in terms of Sony's strength, it's not impossible for the company to build its own cars, with years of technology accumulation in various fields and the ability to integrate technology all available to Dafa. Coupled with the release of the conference announced the list of partners, which is clearly written Bosch, BlackBerry, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Continental, HERE, ZF, Magna and so on these technology giants, every aspect of the ability to build a car has been available, then why not build it?
Think carefully about the new energy car leader Tesla, founded in 2003, they have been building cars for 17 years now, the core technology they also have it, but the realization of profitability is only a few months ago, and is not very stable. And Sony's current helmsman, Mr. Kenichiro Yoshida, in his still Sony chief financial officer (CFO), has proposed not to do high-risk long-term layout, precisely the car this thing is a need to put a long, heavy investment in business, he naturally will not just take the risk.
Selling technology is not the same, not only the risk is small, the speed of money is also fast. 5G field is currently Qualcomm and Huawei two dominant, Apple in the loss of Qualcomm support during the time directly to their own 5G cell phone on-line time lagged behind more than 1 year, and have no choice but to re-reconcile with Qualcomm, and Qualcomm with the 5G baseband easily take away a lot of money from the Apple; in addition to Sony, Samsung's LCD screen technology in the industry is also a good idea, but also a good idea. In addition to Sony, Samsung's LCD screen technology in the industry is also witnessed, so they sell their own TVs, sell cell phones, or many brands of screen suppliers, such as Apple, Huawei, OPPO, VIVO, etc.; back to the Sony Dafa, their CMOS is more dominant in the martial arts, the world's filming equipment on the CMOS 50.1% are from the Sony.
A recent official Sony press release also introduced some of the technologies they are investing in, including CMOS image sensors for high sensitivity, high definition, and high dynamic range, solid-state LiDAR, sensor fusion technology, and ToF lenses for precise identification of people or objects in the cockpit. All of this is more evidence of Sony's "ambition" to use the VISION-S concept car to show the world that they have enough top technology to become an upstream supplier in the industry.
What does Sony want to emphasize in the VISION-S?
With a length, width and height of 4895/1900/1450mm, and a wheelbase of 3000mm, the VISION-S looks to be a little bigger than the Model 3, and with 200kW front and rear electric motors capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in 4.8s, there's not a whole lot of important parameters to go on. But that's fine, and it wasn't originally the point Sony was trying to make.
The first priority is safety. At the conference, Kenichiro Yoshida introduced the VISION-S car equipped with 33 different sensors, including supermarket wave sensors, cameras, millimeter-wave radar, solid-state LiDAR, through which the vehicle weaves an invisible safety net, which Sony calls the safety cocoon. These, too, are built on Sony's top image sensor technology, relying on these technologies will be able to reach the height of the general sensors can not be reached, to achieve higher, faster and more accurate recognition, and through the car's multiple screens to convey to the driver. The ultimate goal is to achieve L4 or higher levels of autonomous driving technology.
And the application of in-vehicle cameras in the current view is not a new technology, Sony also just said that at this stage can be observed in the car drivers and passengers to make different judgments. For example, the driver's attention and fatigue level of real-time monitoring, the status of other members of the implementation of the assessment, such as the discovery of a passenger in the sleep, it will automatically recognize and adjust to the appropriate temperature and the appropriate volume level and so on.
The second focus is on entertainment, which is Sony's specialty, as they aim to create the ultimate mobile entertainment space. The screens used to achieve this are a center console cut-through and two separate screens in the rear, as well as Sony's 360?Reality?Audio technology.
Through the large screen is not new, similar to the just-delivered Ideal One, the rear of the independent screen is a lot of brands are doing, but I do not know Sony as the "entertainment industry" veteran players can play some different tricks, maybe they will be all the home games, film and television, and music resources. I don't know if Sony, as a veteran of the "entertainment industry", can do anything differently.
Another 360?Reality?Audio technology simply provides a more realistic and immersive music experience by separating and rearranging vocals, harmonies, instruments, and other different tracks in a spherical virtual soundstage.
The third focus is adaptability. Sony explains it as the ability of the vehicle to quickly change and improve itself in the face of different owners and different future needs, and this ability is largely required for 5G technology support. To that end, Sony has also built 5G basebands specifically to be installed in cars, which is a big part of why he's pulling Qualcomm into the fold.
Writing in conclusion
In summary, if you're a die-hard fan of the ultimate Sony Dafa belief, you may be disappointed, because trying to buy a SONY-branded car may not be possible anytime soon. Sony's choice to launch their VISION-S concept car at CES rather than an auto show is also clear - "Friends of major automobile OEMs, here is the most outstanding technology and the most advanced concept, so hurry up and order it by calling the xxxx-xxxxxx hotline. When purchasing, please recognize the SONY logo and recharge your faith~".
This article comes from the authors of the Motor Home Car Family, and does not represent the viewpoint position of the Motor Home.