Sony Corp's logo is seen at its news conference in Tokyo, Japan November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonSony seeks partners to make cars into entertainment spaceswill likely add new technology partners to its electric vehicle project to help it forge a mobility business to transform cars from transportation machines to entertainment spaces, a Sony executive told Reuters.
An ongoing shift to electric cars, which are easier to build than those with internal combustion engines, is allowing new entrants into vehicle manufacturing. At the same time, autonomous driving and 5G connectivity is expected remold the auto industry by turning cars into mobile platforms for information and entertainment and shared mobility services.
"We see the risk of ignoring EVs as greater than the challenge they pose," Izumi Kawanishi, the senior general manager at Sony who will manage a new Sony Mobility business, said in an interview. The coming transformation of cars was in some ways similar to how information technology turned phones into smartphones, he added.