an electric car to compete with Tesla. The  Dyson car was supposed to be on the road in 2021  

but then the project got axed. Constructing cars  at any scale takes blood, sweat, tears, and even  

more money. It was too expensive to build. Dyson had  a legacy to protect. So does Sony. The Japanese tech  

giant is one of the most recognized brands in the  world, famous for the PlayStation and the Walkman -  

if you're old enough to remember it. But no one saw  this coming. Sony took almost everyone by surprise  

by unveiling an electric car at the 2020 Consumer  Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This wasn't just a  

concept, this was a prototype. The car is drivable.  The team that built Aibo, Sony's cute robotic dog,  

built the car with the help of the renowned  Magna Steyr which manufactures vehicles like  

the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. This car is called  the Vision-S, Sony's vision for the future.  

Mobile has been the mega trend of the last  decade. I believe the next mega trend will be  

mobility. Mobility is defined as fundamentally  changing the way we travel. A car won't just be  

a way to get from point a to point b. It's a piece  of technology, an iPhone on wheels. The vehicle will  

be connected to the internet. It knows the location  of the person it's picking up while the passenger  

can also follow the car along its route. The Sony  car is jam-packed with Sony stuff. Touch screen  

panoramic Sony displays filled with Sony-owned  movies and music. Each seat has its own speakers  

so you wouldn't need to fight over what music to listen to. And if you're listening through your  

earbuds before getting into the car, Sony envisions  the music automatically transferring to the  

vehicle's speakers. The idea is to make the ride as  comfortable as time spent in your own living room  

with the understanding that one day, there  won't even be a driver. Cars will be autonomous.  

Sony's is not yet fully autonomous but it is  moving in that direction thanks to a whopping 33  

sensors located both inside and outside. According  to the company, the autonomy level of Vision-S 

is two or greater. The driver is still in control  but the vehicle is aware of its surroundings.  

It can recognize when other obstacles are in  its way before parking and knows when to change  

lanes while keeping a safe distance from other vehicles. Sensors can even read the driver's facial  

expressions to gauge levels of concentration and fatigue and send out alerts if necessary. And the  

temperature will be automatically adjusted  to match the comfort level of people inside.  

Sony originally said it had no intention of  mass producing the car. The prototype was simply  

developed to show off its technology. But plans may have changed. After its unveiling in Las Vegas, 

the car moved to Magna Steyr's engineering  facility in Graz, Austria for fine tuning.

And then in July, Sony announced it would begin  testing the car on roads in Japan. This suggests  

the company may have bigger plans for the Vision-S than simply to advance the sensing and audio

technology for other carmakers to use in their vehicles. It does already dabble in the auto  

industry by supplying image sensors to companies  like Toyota to help with automatic emergency  

braking. Sony hopes software updates will move its  car up to at least level four which means the  

vehicle does all the driving but only in a limited area. The highest level is full self-driving.  

The car performs all tasks under all circumstances.  It's the same level Tesla aims to achieve.  

Elon Musk's company has completely turned the auto industry upside down.Other electric cars are often  

compared to a Tesla. So how does the Vision-S  stack up against Tesla's mass-market Model 3?  

Depending on the version of the Model 3,  it can go 0 to 60 mph in 3.1 to 5.3 seconds.  

Sony claims its car can accelerate in 4.8 seconds. The top speed of the Tesla ranges from 140  

to 162 mph compared to Sony's 149 mph. The  Model 3 has a driving range of 267 to 360 miles.  

We don't yet know how far Sony's car can go nor  do we know what price it would be if it does go  

on sale one day. If it's more expensive than the  Model 3 and a comparison with the Model S is more  

appropriate, it does lag behind in acceleration  and speed.   

A big difference between the two companies is  that Sony relies on LiDAR to advance its self-driving technology

LiDAR is a sensor that helps detect objects by  beaming out laser light and then measuring the  

the time it takes for the light to reflect back. Musk  once called LiDAR a fool's errand and said anyone  

relying on the expensive sensor is doomed. Instead,  Tesla uses a combination of cameras, radar, and  

ultrasonics to see. LiDAR is very popular with tech companies other than Tesla. It's found in  

Apple's iPhone 12 Pro to help take better photos. And, by the way, Apple is also reportedly wading  

into the car market. Rumors of an Apple electric car have run rampant for years. It even hired  

a bunch of engineers from Tesla but its efforts have been  shaky from the start with leadership changes and  

hundreds of layoffs from the car division a couple of years ago. Apple's direction has reportedly shifted to developing  

an autonomous driving system rather than a  complete car but who knows what the future holds.  

Apple's challenges show just how difficult it  can be even for well-established companies to  

build electric cars. Dyson learned that the hard way. But the difficulty doesn't appear to deter  

Sony. We are excited about the road ahead of us. It will be a long road ahead.

If Sony does end up producing  a car for the masses, be prepared to wait because autonomous cars need to clock in a lot of hours  

in order to gather enough driving data. Although  Sony hasn't provided many updates about the  

development of its car, all the pieces of the  puzzle seem to point to more than just a prototype.  

I'm Cindy Pom, thanks for watching. If you like  what you saw, give it a like and don't forget to  

subscribe to my channel. And thank you very much to my Patrons for your support. I'll see you next week.