Rise of Afeela: Sony and Honda's exciting new electric car brand
Delhi : During Sony's presentation at CES in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the joint mobility venture between Sony and Honda showcased a brand-new electric vehicle prototype dubbed Afeela. The nameplate will be on the joint venture's first electric vehicle that will be sold in North America in 2026.
The CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, Mizuno, claimed the vehicle would draw on Sony's expertise in artificial intelligence, entertainment, virtual reality, and augmented reality to deliver a distinctive EV.
According to Mizuno, "Afeela reflects our notion of an interactive relationship where individuals experience interactive mobility and where mobility can detect and comprehend people and society by leveraging sensing and AI technology."
A total of over 40 sensors, including cameras, radar, ultrasonic, and lidar, will be integrated on the outside of the vehicle to improve its capacity for object detection and self-driving. Afeela will make an effort to exemplify the three key concepts of autonomy, augmentation, and affinity, claims Mizuno.
The concept that Sony first introduced at CES three years ago was not much like the prototype that was revealed on stage. Instead, it was a sedan with a high-gloss black roof, a light bar across the front, and an enclosed grille. Some of the more intriguing exterior elements included black hubcaps and a light accent over the wheel wells. The Afeela prototype was compared by a number of onlookers as a cross between the Porsche 911 and the Lucid Air.
Priced to rival other high-end automakers like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo, and Audi, the new EV will be released in the near future. According to Sony, its software will likely offer subscription services, meaning car owners will probably have to pay a monthly charge to access particular functions.
Three years ago, Sony surprised CES spectators by introducing the elegant Vision-S concept automobile. The Vision-S was designed to show off what a Sony car may look like with its pillar-to-pillar touchscreen screens and concentration on (what else?) music and entertainment. Which, it reassured everyone, was not what it intended to do.
That wasn't totally true, as it turned out. Early in 2022, word spread that Sony and Honda were forming a joint company specifically for the purpose of manufacturing and marketing electric automobiles. The Sony-Honda vehicles will be manufactured at one of Honda's 12 US plants, though no information regarding the anticipated volume has been released. In 2026, the US will be the first market to sell EVs, followed by Japan and Europe. Preorders are expected to begin in 2025.
One of the concepts for the Honda-Sony vehicle included a fully integrated PS5 for gaming and entertainment. The idea was to "create a car as hardware that will adapt to the entertainment and network we would like to deliver," said Mizuno, chair of Sony Honda Mobility and senior managing officer of Honda, in an interview late last year.
In other words, Sony views automobiles, namely electric vehicles (EVs), as a critical platform for the development of its future tech and entertainment offerings. However, it is not content to create its operating system similarly to Apple's and Google's, or to licence its hardware and software to automakers. It also wishes to participate in the design and development phases. It's very dangerous and expensive to manufacture cars, especially for a company that has never done it before. Simply observe Dyson. You don't necessarily convert your expertise into the automotive industry just because you produce incredibly excellent non-automotive products.
Naturally, Honda is creating its own line of electric vehicles, including the Prologue, which is being produced in partnership with General Motors. The Prologue is Honda's first long-range EV aimed at the North American market, and it is anticipated to be on sale in 2024. The first of 30 hybrid battery-electric fuel-cell vehicles that Honda believes will be available by the end of the decade, it heralds the start of the wave.
The Prologue and an unnamed 2024 Acura car based on Honda's Precision concept unveiled earlier this year will both be powered by GM's Ultium platform.
