Sony is one of the biggest tech companies in Japan with its fingers in a lot of markets. It isn’t hard to imagine them coming up with an Electric Vehicle, seeing as how Tesla is so popular for theirs. Sony has announced its own EV prototype, calling it the VISION-S. The car was unveiled on Sunday at an even help in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
The car comes equipped with Sony’s high-performance image sensors. The car has its own artificial intelligence and a suite of other technologies to detect people and objects in its surroundings. The vehicle features level 2 driver assistance meaning the car is able to form operations such as steering and braking.
This is not the first time Sony has shown this car. It was first presented at CES, a technology event in the US, in January 2020. The prototype also went road testing in Austria in December 2002. Sony has plans to start road testing in Japan by the end of this year. According to Izumi Kawanishi, Sony’s executive officer, they have no plans to mass-produce the vehicle at this time.
He said, “We intend to continue enhancing how we create mobile spaces, encompassing their relationship with the cloud and other networks”. The car weighs around 5180 lb and uses a dual-motor system that can move it from 0 to 60 in almost 4.8 and giving it a top speed of 149 mph. The total sensors in the car sum up to around 33 in number including radar, lidar, and the cameras.
You can check out a video of a public road testing of the car done back in January.
Aside from the Tesla inspired looks, The vehicle looks pretty awesome.