How Sony Shocked CES

NOBODY EXPECTED SONY TO SHOWCASE AN EV IN LAS VEGAS. PERHAPS WE SHOULD HAVE

- Andy Enright

IT’S HARD TO keep a secret in the automotive world. Everybody now has a camera on their person, once privileged testing locations are now plastered all over the internet, and spy photographers with drones can now surveil even the most locked-down proving grounds. Therefore it came as a huge surprise when Sony unveiled its Vision-S Concept electric vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this January.

The Japanese were at pains to stress that the vehicle was, for the time being at least, merely a rolling shop window for an impressive suite of Sony sensors, but dig a little deeper and the company’s ambitions are obvious.

At CES in 2015, then-CEO Kazuo Hirai made an off-the-cuff remark. “This growing automotive segment has enormous potential,” Hirai told the crowd that January. “We’re aiming to take a leading position.”