Sony forays into e-mobility market with Vision-S 02 concept

Japanese Sony Group Corporation announced its plans to enter the Electric Vehicle (EV) market by floating a new division — Sony Mobility Inc. — at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2022.

 The Japanese multinational giant has also exhibited its SUV prototype vehicle ‘Vision-S 02’ at the same show. The decision to get into EV space comes nearly two years after the Tokyo-based firm had premiered its Vision-S sedan concept.   

The new company will aim to make the best use of AI and robotics technologies, as claimed by the company. It is widely believed that the Vision-S 02 is expected to retain the technical specifications of its previous concept version Vision S01, which had a power output of 200 kW with all-wheel drive and the vehicle can accelerate from 0–62 mph in 4.8 seconds, and the top speed is rated at 149mph.   

The announcement comes at a time when the world’s most valuable company Apple is also reportedly planning to produce EVs in association with LG. Likewise, Chinese telecom giant Huawei had also made similar plans in the zero-emission mobility space.   

As per Marketsandmarkets, the size of the overall global EV market is projected to skyrocket at a CAGR of 26.8% from 4,093 thousand units in 2021 to 34,756 thousand units by 2030. The research firm claimed that growing demand for low emission commuting and governments supporting long range, zero emission vehicles through subsidies & tax rebates have compelled the manufacturers to provide electric vehicles around the world.   

Also read: What to expect from India’s EV industry in 2022

Sony stated that its ‘Vision-S 02’ concept vehicle will be based on the same EV/cloud platform as the earlier prototype (VISION-S 01). The vehicle will be loaded with multiple sensors as part of Driver Assistance Systems. In the interiors of the e-SUV, there will Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors for driver authentication. The vehicle settings, key locks, and user settings can be synchronised by linking the vehicle to the cloud using mobile communication, including 5G communication, as claimed by the company.   

“Sony understands that the automobile is the next ‘Mobile Internet Device (MID)’ after the cellular phone and tablets. Convergence of ‘Mobility + Energy + Technology (MET)’ provides many new opportunities and will be the next big growth driver, reveals Christie Fernandez, Founder of Sooorya EV, which is focused on e-mobility in the emerging markets  

Meanwhile, Sony has also conducted driving experiments connecting Japan and Germany with 5G, and is working with its partners to achieve low-latency transmission (video and control signals) and communication control (monitoring and prediction) using the telematics system installed in VISION-S 01.