Sony to make Electric cars more trouble for the Big 3

[Mark Gregory]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/6/21054270/sony-vision-s-electric-concept-car-ev-announcement-ces-2020

Sony just made what might be one of the biggest surprise announcements at this year’s CES: a car. Called the Sony Vision-S, it’s an electric concept sedan that is meant to showcase the Japanese tech conglomerate’s many different strengths, from entertainment products to camera sensors and more. 

In fact, the Vision-S features 33 different sensors inside and outside of the car, multiple widescreen displays, 360 audio, and always-on connectivity, with some pieces coming from industry players like BlackBerry and Bosch. It’s also powered by a “newly-designed EV platform” — which appears to have been engineered by automotive supplier Magna — that Sony says will be able to power other vehicle types, like SUVs.

[TerryB]

I don’t see Sony getting in the car business but I do see them as a possible major supplier of components going into cars especially EV.  Sony lost some of its glory in the consumer marketplace so it makes perfect sense to be looking for opportunities in the emerging EV industry.  Thirty five years ago I had all Sony audio equipment, not the tv as I was employed by RCA.  Sony TVs were our benchmark for performance.

[8E45E]

22 minutes ago, TerryB said:

Thirty five years ago I had all Sony audio equipment, not the tv as I was employed by RCA.  Sony TVs were our benchmark for performance.

Probably a result of RCA turning down the offer mass producing the revolutionary transistor from Bell Laboratories in the early 1950's, where Sony snapped it up.

 

Craig

[Eric Wahlberg]

47 minutes ago, TerryB said:

I don’t see Sony getting in the car business but I do see them as a possible major supplier of components going into cars especially EV.  Sony lost some of its glory in the consumer marketplace so it makes perfect sense to be looking for opportunities in the emerging EV industry.  Thirty five years ago I had all Sony audio equipment, not the tv as I was employed by RCA.  Sony TVs were our benchmark for performance.

I would not underestimate Sony.  Although they have lost much of their consumer sales to Samsung, LG and others they have a strong presence in electronics technology.  When I first entered the professional television equipment business, Sony was relatively new to the business and companies such as Ampex, GE, Philips and RCA "owned" the professional camera business.  It did not take many years for Sony and other Japanese manufacturers to effectively own the market for broadcast cameras and equipment.  For many years I was with Videotek and we built a good business by modifying Sony Trinitron TV's into color television monitors for professional and broadcast applications.  Later I worked for JVC and at one time we had a three chip broadcast grade shoulder mount camera that used components developed by Sony, a year before Sony used them in their own cameras.  The future is quickly bringing a lot of changes and we will have to adapt to new technology as it becomes available.  That's not to say I'm going to give up owning and/or driving all analog, standard shift transmission cars with non-assisted brakes and steering.

[joe_padavano]

" it’s an electric concept sedan that is meant to showcase the Japanese tech conglomerate’s many different strengths "

 

This is a marketing tool, not a car they intend to build. Assembling all those technologies into a vehicle that was unexpected was a media coup, not a prototype for long term production. The "surprise car" guaranteed media coverage.

Edited January 7, 2020 by joe_padavano (see edit history)

[padgett]

My first personal TV was a little Sony AC/DC/Battery that had three big buttons under the screen.

At one point I had two Sony Trinitrons (still have the 36", is too heavy to move) and in 2010 a Sony 3D. Have moved on since. 

Concept has too many doors.

[zepher]

3 hours ago, Eric Wahlberg said:

Later I worked for JVC and at one time we had a three chip broadcast grade shoulder mount camera that used components developed by Sony, a year before Sony used them in their own cameras.

 

I still have a Canon XL-1 camera.

It is not an HD cam but it still takes great video all these years later.

 

[mike6024]

 

I have one of these bad boys, and it is HEAVY!

 

Sony KV-34XBR800
34" widescreen FD Trinitron Wega™ XBR® HDTV-ready TV
Sony
Item # 15834XB800

 The handsome 34" KV-34XBR800 smartly combines Sony's totally flat Wega screen and HD-capable Hi-Scan™...

[cheezestaak2000]

since people have been force fed vehicles from a cookie cutter design, and the big three are only concerned with making suv's as cheaply as possible in mexico and china, can a microsoft or even an amazon car really be that far off?

[TerryB]

Sony’s picture tube used wires under high stress to direct the electron beam toward the phosphor lines on the front glass panel, the part of the tube you see.  To accomplish this Sony had to build a superstructure of steel and wires inside the picture tube front panel. This amount of steel was markedly heavier than anyone else was using hence the great weight of their TV sets.  Others in the industry such as RCA used a thinner curved steel sheet with slots or dots etched into it to accomplish the same thing. The framework for the shadow mask system as it was called was much lighter than the Sony system.  Bimetallic springs attached the shadow mask to the frame to compensate for the heat buildup inside the picture tube.