Sony and Vodafone have cooperated to bring the adage “look ma, no hands” to life by road-testing the Vision-S 01 electric vehicle (EV) sedan concept on a test track in Germany that was controlled remotely from Japan. It seemed like I was in an automobile video game, except this time it was real.
The smartphone maker has jumped on the electric vehicle craze and is now demonstrating and testing the capabilities of its high-tech vehicles.
How it Worked
The Vision-S 01 was successfully controlled through a 5G connection from Tokyo and driven on a custom-built circuit in Aldenhoven, 9,363 kilometres away.
The test driver in Tokyo used a three-monitor setup at his desk and was able to accelerate the EV to 61 km/h (38 mph) using an accelerator pedal from what seems to be a gaming steering wheel.
A clutch pedal was included in the arrangement, but it was not required.
Although there are no hands on the steering wheel of Sony’s Vision-S 01 concept in the video, this does not make the Vision-S 01 self-driving. As a safety measure, a driver was stationed inside the zero-emission vehicle.
The built-in telematics system in the Vision-S 01 enables video and control signals to be provided with little delay, according to Sony.
The unusual test is part of a research project aimed at developing codec and rate control technology that will help with the stable transmission of enormous amounts of video data in real time.
After being debuted for Sony’s PlayStation consoles a long time ago, the amazing demonstration elevates Sony’s Remote Play feature to new heights. For the time being, the company says it is working on a “totally new mobility experience, such as a merger of real and virtual.”
In light of Sony’s remote test, it’ll be interesting to watch whether the PlayStation 5 manufacturer truly releases a cutting-edge EV with a remote-like controller for a variety of functions, such as pre-heating the inside before you leave to autonomously navigating from a parking lot to your pickup point.
To read our blog on Sony is planning to release its first electric SUV this year, click here.
