The market for electric vehicles has seen new players enter the space and traditional automotive companies bet heavily on a shift to clean energy, all in a move to take market share from leader Tesla Inc TSLA. Two major companies are teaming up in a move they believe will give them a competitive advantage over Tesla and other players.
What Happened: Two corporations that could soon be entering the electric vehicle space are technology giant Sony Group Corp SONY and automaker Honda Motor Company HMC, who announced a joint venture earlier this year.
To offer a competitive advantage against rivals, the joint venture called Sony Honda Mobility could be leveraging the strength of Sony and integrating video game consoles into vehicles.
A Playstation5, or PS5, which is one of the world's bestselling video game systems, could be part of the featured entertainment console for vehicles from the joint venture, according to the Financial Times.
Sony has hinted at getting more heavily involved in the electric vehicle space, using previous Consumer Electronic Shows to show off concepts and an overall vision of the company’s plans.
Sony’s Senior Vice President Izumi Kawanishi recently discussed the potential advantages of the joint venture.
“Sony has content, services and entertainment technologies that move people. We are adapting these assets to mobility, and this is our strength against Tesla,” Kawanishi told the Financial Times.
Kawanishi said Tesla doesn’t provide content services.
“To enjoy the space in your car, you have to make it a space where you don’t need to drive.”
Kawanishi highlighted that in developing autonomous vehicles, the entertainment space and offerings inside the cabin should be a priority.
Sony Honda Mobility Charirman Yasuhide Mizuno said that instead of offering games inside vehicles like Tesla, the new plan from the joint venture would be different.
“We will develop a car as hardware that will cater to the entertainment and network we would like to offer,” Mizuno said.
Related Link: EV Race Gets Heated Up As Sony And Honda Prepare For Premium EV Offering
Why It’s Important: Market leader Tesla has increased focus on its entertainment features of vehicles and earlier this year announced a demo for adding Steam (a library of video games) integration inside the vehicles. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the larger horizontal screen inside Model S and Model X vehicles and improved graphics chip put the entertainment offering “literally at the level of a PlayStation 5.”
The Steam integration could bring popular games like “Cyberpunk 2077,” “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,” “Dota 2,” “Apex Legends” and “PUBG: Battlegrounds” as playable options inside Tesla vehicles.
The focus on entertainment and in-car features could be a differentiator for the Sony and Honda joint venture, continuing a trend of vehicle brands betting more on in-car features rather than just battery range and the sticker price of EVs.
Sony also plans for its vehicles to be autonomous, so all their vehicles may someday feature PlayStation video games, which could lead to safety concerns. Tesla previously faced pushback from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over its in-car video game platform being a distraction while the vehicle is on the road.
Sony and Honda previously said deliveries of the not-named first vehicle from the joint venture could be delivered in 2026.
Honda is also working on growing the portfolio of its own electric vehicles, including the Prologue SUV set for a 2024 debut in the U.S.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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