In a complete surprise, Sony Corp. debuted an electric vehicle prototype Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Vision-S sedan is an electric vehicle built by the electronics giant in conjunction with Robert Bosch GmbH, Continental AG, Magna International Inc. and Nvidia Corp.

The vehicle is claimed to deliver 544 horsepower through electric engines, with a top speed of 155 miles per hour and the ability to go from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.8 seconds. That faster than the 3.4 seconds achievable in the Telsa 3, to which the Vision-S sedan is being compared.

Sony’s car includes 33 sensors to deliver autonomous driving, plus car-to-car communication with support for 5G connectivity. How autonomous and to what level the self-driving functionality is rated was not shared by Sony.

The vehicle uses Sony’s own imaging and sensing technologies. Those include CMOS sensors, solid-state lidar, sensor fusion technology and time-of-flight sensors. The sensors are described as being able to detect and recognize people and objects inside and outside the car to provide highly advanced driving support.

Inside the vehicle, the driver is presented with a futuristic LCD dashboard that takes up nearly the entire width of the vehicle, what Sony calls a “panoramic screen in which rich and diverse content can be enjoyed through an intuitive user interface.” Music lovers get “360 Reality Audio” that provides an immersive audio experience through speakers built into each seat.

“Sony will continue to combine its advanced technologies to deliver greater safety and reliability, while also striving to inspire new emotion through revolutionary in-car entertainment experiences,” the company said in a press release.

Lacking from the announcement are details such as release date or price. As CNBC noted, “given that a large number of concept vehicles do not come to market, whether the Vision-S ever sees the light of day remains to be seen.”

The vehicle may have simply been designed to showcase Sony’s technology to others with no intention ever being mass-produced. Although Sony makes a wide variety of consumer electronics, it also has a strong technology supply business, such as camera sensors used by various smartphone makers.

If it does ever come to market, on paper at least it would be a worthy competitor to Tesla vehicles depending on its price. Tesla has gained much of the attention in electric vehicles. Although other traditional vehicle manufacturers are rolling out new electric models, no prominent new player is yet seriously challenging it. Sony, if it so chose, could be that company.

Photos: Sony