Sony Corp. unveiled on Monday a self-driving electric concept equipped with over 30 image sensors and artificial intelligence.

Although Sony does not plan to commercialize the car, it aims to test it on public roads by March 2021 to seek new business opportunities.

"The megatrend for the past decade has been the mobile phone, and the next will be mobility," Sony President Kenichiro Yoshida told a press conference one day before the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Similarly, many firms are preparing to display future auto technologies and products at CES, the world's largest consumer electronics and information technology show.South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. announced the same day that it has tied up with U.S. ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. to develop a flying taxi that takes off and lands vertically.

Hyundai hopes to supply the vehicle for urban aviation transport services Uber aims to launch in 2023.

A concept model will be showcased at Hyundai's booth during the trade show running through Friday.Germany's Daimler AG disclosed a futuristic concept called Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR. Inspired by the popular U.S. science-fiction movie "Avatar," the maker of luxury vehicles adopted a design conjuring images of creatures with scales.

JIJI Press