Sony Vision-S 360º "Safety Cocoon", "Oval Sensing" electric car concept

Dashmellow

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I wasn't quite sure where to post this thread. Initially, I was going to put it over in the "Is there such thing as a side view dashcam?" thread which is currently featuring an interesting discussion about 360 degree four camera installations but that didn't seem quite right. This seemed like it deserved its own slot. Finally, I decided on a dedicated thread in the General Dash Cam discussion sub forum as what Sony is presenting here may portend the ultimate future of full 360º automotive camera (and sensor) coverage.

At the CES 2020 currently going on in Las Vegas Sony just introduced their first electric car concept prototype, the Vision S. It's packed with sensors and unique technology concepts, as one might expect but of particular interest to us dash cam aficionados, and the reason for this post are the "Oval Sensing" and "Safety Cocoon" concepts. Aside from all the safety features and potential autonomous driving features, the car may be giving us a glimpse of the ultimate automotive OEM 360º (interior and exterior) dash cam experience that could well become a standard feature (or option) in vehicles going forward. Interesting stuff! It's fascinating to see companies like Sony (and maybe Apple), whose expertise is in high tech consumer electronics, optics, microprocessors and software development flirting with the idea of entering the automotive industry. Such cars may never actually reach the market but many of the concepts likely will.

https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/vision-s/

How's this for a 360º dash cam set-up?
oval-sensing1.jpg

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Yeah, there is some very interesting sensor technology in this thing.

Also interesting is the use of both a Front Near Camera and a Front Far Camera (both using the IMX 424). This appears to essentially be my concept for a dual channel front facing wide/telephoto camera back in June, 2018. Obviously, Sony has been lurking here reading threads at DCT! :smuggrin:

oval-sensing1.jpg
 
the near and far setup is for measuring depth, Toshiba developed a sensor to do this in the one sensor a while back but haven't seen anything further on that yet
 
Hehe yes, just like humans need to be smart about their driving, and spot dangers before it is right in front of the bumper.
So do Sony, so a zoom camera only make sense
 
IMX 456 tof sensor are just VGA, but do good depth perception.

 
I don't quite get it though, so the TOF sensor measure the time it tale light to reach each pixel,,,,,, and that's just dandy i get that.
BUT ! what i dont get from when do it know to time from, its not like the object teleport a GO to the sensor every time a light photon leave it.
 
So much for falling asleep tonight now :geek:, as if my mind don't cough up enough BS to think about as soon as my head hit the pillow.
This morning it took me 7 GD hours to fall asleep, and i woke up after four hours of sleep.
 
I don't quite get it though, so the TOF sensor measure the time it tale light to reach each pixel,,,,,, and that's just dandy i get that.
BUT ! what i dont get from when do it know to time from, its not like the object teleport a GO to the sensor every time a light photon leave it.
it's high level stuff, don't expect any of us to have a grasp on this stuff, interesting all the same, Pioneer have been working on some similar tech also
 
Yes very freaky, i want a pair of TOF night vision goggles instead of IR / thermal :) but i assume there have to be some form of light still, so that probably wouldn't work.
 
the near and far setup is for measuring depth, Toshiba developed a sensor to do this in the one sensor a while back but haven't seen anything further on that yet

I thought ToF (Time of Flight) was for depth (range finding). But yeah, I was going to say earlier that it's not quite clear what is recorded and what is not. I would assume more than one camera provides from some sort of recording, but still not quite sure. Lots of stuff going on, that's for sure.
 
I thought ToF (Time of Flight) was for depth (range finding). But yeah, I was going to say earlier that it's not quite clear what is recorded and what is not. I would assume more than one camera provides from some sort of recording, but still not quite sure. Lots of stuff going on, that's for sure.
not sure, there's some very complex stuff going on with these systems, how it all works is likely to exceed comprehension anyway but it's impressive nonetheless
 
the near and far setup is for measuring depth, Toshiba developed a sensor to do this in the one sensor a while back but haven't seen anything further on that yet

it's high level stuff, don't expect any of us to have a grasp on this stuff, interesting all the same, Pioneer have been working on some similar tech also

I looked this up earlier but forgot to mention it in my last post. There is aleady a growing list of smartphones on the market that are currently using ToF cameras.

https://www.theandroidsoul.com/android-tof-camera-device-list-and-what-is-time-of-flight-camera-tof/

  • Honor Magic 2 3D
  • Honor View 20
  • Nokia 9 PureView
  • Huawei Mate X
  • Samsung Galaxy S10 5G
  • LG G8 ThinQ
  • LG G8s ThinQ
  • Vivo NEX Dual Display
  • Galaxy Note 10 (rumored)
 
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Yes very freaky, i want a pair of TOF night vision goggles instead of IR / thermal :) but i assume there have to be some form of light still, so that probably wouldn't work.
No, ToF cameras normally work with their own light, for example a LIDAR is a ToF camera using lasers, and I think the face recognition (phone unlock) camera in the iPhone 11 is an IR flash time of flight camera, it measures how long it takes the light from the IR flash gun to return. It does recognise faces very effectively in 3D to unlock the phone even when using your iPhone in bed in the pitch dark.
 
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the near and far setup is for measuring depth, Toshiba developed a sensor to do this in the one sensor a while back but haven't seen anything further on that yet
The ToF sensor will be for the depth image, I would assume the near and far are a wide angle lens for seeing everything within 10m for use in the city and a narrow angle lens for seeing what is happening 100m down the road in time to act at highway speeds.

Or did you read otherwise somewhere?
 
It's an impressive setup, and the car itself styled so that it could hit the market today. Many 'concept' cars look too funky to have wide appeal (like Elon's "Cybertruck" :ROFLMAO:) And for our usage, those sensors are likely placed to be optimal for driving functions which won't be ideal for usage as video evidence recording.

We're at the threshold of having absolutely reliable autonomous cars that don't ever crash themselves. Personally I'm not sure if I like the idea but I can't argue that it would generally improve things on our roads. I simply like driving, and autonomous cars will take that away :(

Phil
 
We're at the threshold of having absolutely reliable autonomous cars that don't ever crash themselves. Personally I'm not sure if I like the idea but I can't argue that it would generally improve things on our roads. I simply like driving, and autonomous cars will take that away :(

Phil

The companies involved still can't get Level 2 automation working without causing fatalities. This isn't helped if the testers are looking down at their mobile devices or falling asleep when they are supposed to be monitoring the car.

But the governments involved will still allow testing on public highways because "innovation" and $$$
 
Off the shelf dashcam makers will probably find it very hard to compete with stuff like this, their only chance is, if people want a system like that they will have to buy a car with it.
 
Judging from the graphics, it is going to work with flying cars too:

 
in the end little girl on back seat have a red square, maybe sensor can detect she is about to throw a tantrum. :)
 
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