Sony would like to integrate its entertainment offers into its future electric car. During a visit to the Honda factory in Marysville, Ohio on June 6, Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO of Sony, gave his vision of the automotive market. He said he wants to allow drivers to play video games and watch movies from the comfort of their seat. A reality made possible by the democratization of autonomous cars, but which still seems fanciful for road safety issues.
The automotive sector is turning to the distribution of services?
In March 2022, Sony and Honda announced their collaboration to produce the Vision-S, the entertainment company’s electric car. Kenichiro Yoshida took advantage of his visit to a Honda factory to share his view of the future of the automotive market. For him, the sector will transition to the distribution of services. He explains that electric cars “ will be connected to a network and therefore become technological products ”, in the same way as the PlayStation console of the company.
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Sony would like to reproduce the economic model of the PlayStation 5 for its car. The console has the PlayStation Plus subscription offer, which provides access to a catalog of games to download. Drawing inspiration from its service offering available via the PS5, Yoshida explains that it wants to ” develop a whole type of functionality for the Vision-S. As a leader in entertainment, it wants to make its catalog of video games, movies, and probably music, accessible to drivers.
The Japanese company does not hide its inspiration from the Tesla model, the leader in the sector. Elon Musk’s company vehicles allow access to games, Netflix or even YouTube via the car’s control screen. The manufacturer also offers a subscription of ten dollars per month to have a better internet connection. This type of offer allows the manufacturer to diversify its sources of income, beyond the initial sale of the vehicle.
A fad from Sony?
Yoshida will face the same problems as Tesla. For safety reasons, games available in a Tesla were removed from cars in December 2021 following an investigation by the US Highway Safety Agency. The CEO is aware of this problem and knows that currently drivers cannot play while driving.
He hopes that the development of self-driving cars will make this possible. Officially, there are several levels of autonomy. In March 2021, Honda marketed the first vehicle with Level 3 autonomy. This means that the driver must remain alert to take control of the car in the event of a problem. From level 4, the driver would in theory have nothing more to do, ideal for enjoying a film.
Yoshida admitted that the Vision S “ will be a relatively expensive car “. Integrating optional entertainment offers for an additional cost further restricts the target audience of the vehicle. This is more of a form of fad on the part of Sony. The Japanese giant is trying to stand out from the competition in the electric car sector, while having a new distribution channel for its content. Road safety risks, in any case, curbing this ambition.