Sony, one of the largest electronics companies in the world, is getting in on the automotive world with the launch of its own car brand.
The mega-corporation partnered with another Japanese company, Honda, in 2022 to create Sony Honda Mobility – a joint venture automobile company that will focus entirely on constructing electric vehicles (EVs).
At the recent CES technology trade show in Las Vegas, Sony finally unveiled its first car in the form of the Afeela, an all-electric sedan that was brought onto the stage in a way that likely won’t surprise anyone familiar with the brand’s biggest creations – with a PlayStation 5 controller.
A new frontier
The Afeela brought on stage in Las Vegas is a prototype, but the company is planning to have the car go into full-scale production in North America as soon as 2026.
It was quick to point out that driving the car with the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller is by no means a feature of the car and was only done for the sake of the presentation. However, it is clear that Sony is still planning to integrate aspects of its other successful ventures in the development of its automotive brand.
Sony Honda Mobility’s (SHM’s) CEO Yasuhide Mizuno said that the car would make use of Sony’s experience with artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) to create a unique EV, according to The Verge.
What this translates to in practice is an EV with more than 40 different sensors, including radars, cameras, and ultrasonic and lidar detectors, which enables Level 3 autonomous driving with features like adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, and autonomous emergency braking, letting owners take their hands off the wheel in certain situations.
Much of Sony’s experience with AI, VR, and AR stems from its extremely popular PlayStation video game console, and the electronics producer is planning to utilise gaming software like Unreal Engine 5.3 to run its onboard systems including the digital driver display and infotainment system.
These screens offer a 3D graphical display that can render detailed navigation maps and augmented reality constructions of the car’s surroundings, and SHM is partnering with Microsoft to integrate cloud-computing technology into Afeela’s development.
Sony will also allow for its extensive library of movies and TV shows to be accessed through the screens, though naturally some of these functions will be disabled while the car is in motion.
As for its power source, the sedan will use a 91kWh battery in combination with a 400kW dual-electric motor and an all-wheel-drive layout, which will send it from 0 to 100km/h in just 4.8 seconds.
Honda has not yet stated a driving range nor an expected charging time, though it did say that the car has support for up to 150kW DC fast charging.
While no other specifics were given, images of the Afeela show it is using a yoke rather than a traditional steering wheel, and the various screens appear to take up the entire dashboard with only a handful of physical buttons located in the centre for essentials like the hazard lights.
More information on the Afeela and Sony and Honda’s automotive collaboration will undoubtedly be drip-fed to the public until its debut in 2026.
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