CES2020: Sony makes the case to carmakers to use its tech by unveiling a car of its own

Electric vehicles are the future of transport, but while carmakers struggle to transition, a surprising new name has entered the race.

LG’s concept is intended as an autonomous shuttle for rideshare, with space for four people at a time.

The future of cars over the next decade or two is still to be determined, but there are a few things we do know.

For one it will be mostly electric, the days of the internal combustion engine decidedly over outside of niche applications.

Secondly, we won’t be actually driving them, once autonomous vehicles and the changes to regulation that will need to happen before wide adoption of them are embraced.

And many of the old names we know are likely to fall by the wayside, replaced by new EV manufacturers and even traditional consumer electronics companies to compete with giants like Ford, Toyota and the Volkswagen group, who have made greater strides towards an electric future than some of their competitors.

While different companies will be making cars with different power sources than the ones we’ve seen in the past, these companies probably won’t be selling as many of them.

Already, younger Australians (at least the ones in major cities with better access to public transport and rideshare platforms) are showing less interest in owning a car of their own.

A changing industry means many companies are realising they aren’t in the car business at all, they’re in the transport business.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, traditional car companies like Ford, Hyundai, and Honda have shown off concepts for the future of what’s now being called “mobility”, alongside surprising concepts from the likes of LG and Sony.

An attendee sits in the Audi Q4 e-tron urban mobility autonomous conceptcar with a retractable desk at the drivers' seat at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Picture: Robyn Beck

Ford was even taking orders for its electric Mustang Mach-E at CES this year, but it’s also been forced to reckon with a potential new competitor.

Sony made a surprise announcement at the end of their press conference, the Vision-S concept car.

While it definitely won’t be going on sale any time soon, if it ever even does, it did allow Sony to stake a claim on what they think will be the future of cars, built around its traditional consumer tech.

As is becoming standard, displays are a big focus.

Tesla’s minimalist dash, with everything being controlled through a tablet style touchscreen interface, helped kickstart the trend, but Sony have taken it to a whole new level.

The interior dash of the car is made up of several displays, with two touchscreens in the middle and in front of the passenger seat.

There’s also a trackpad like control surface in the centre console.

Sony’s camera sensors, now powering the imaging of many new smartphones, were pitched as a possible solutions for driver assistance and self-driving applications in the future as well.

Encouragingly, the concept car Sony brought to CES, unlike so many others, actually drives.

It also features impressive looks not too far removed from many modern cars on the road today, indicating it might be a little closer to going into production than Sony were willing to admit.

But they weren’t the only electronics company looking to move people.

LG also showed off new transport ideas, but unlike Sony’s it was nothing like the cars on the road today.

LG’s concept is intended as an autonomous shuttle for rideshare, with space for four people at a time.

Without having to include a traditional engine or steering wheel, LG has been able to expand the interior space.

The concept is less of a vehicle than it is a living room on wheels, with fully reclining chairs, televisions for each passenger, and even a snack bar, with cameras to detect and charge you for whatever you pull out of it, a bit like Amazon’s convenience stores.

LG representatives said the concept or what it eventually becomes wouldn’t be on the roads for another ten years, if it makes it that far.

Some companies are skipping the roads altogether.

Hyundai showed off its collaboration with Uber on an electric flying taxi. Bell, who have also partnered with Uber, showed off a similar entrant in a category known as Personal Air Vehicles, or PAVs at CES last year, but were back again this year too.

Hyundai’s flying Ubers have a target date of 2023, and Melbourne will be one of the first cities in the world to get it.

If the two companies hit that target Melbourne travellers will finally be able to get a quick ride to the airport, around eight years before the proposed rail link to the terminal is set to open.

The reporter travelled to CES as a guest of LG