AFEELA Car: Sony Honda Mobility Prototype Unveiled

Sony Honda Mobility disclosed the prototype of the Afeela car during the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) held recently. There they unveiled that it includes a lot of design revisions and additional elements that bring it closer to manufacturing. The Sony Honda Mobility has stated that the Afeela sedan will be available in 2026 and it will be manufactured at a new factory in Ohio.

The introduction of the Afeela was one of a kind as at the last point Izumi Kawanishi, head of Sony Honda Mobility, drove it onstage with a PlayStation 5 DualSense controller. Their main goal was to establish and develop the interdisciplinary between the media, gaming, and entertainment along with automation.

Sony and Honda executives went on to offer more information on Afeela's development. Therefore now we know more about its innovative entertainment and safety features.

AFEELA Car and the game controller

The Afeela car's synergy with the gaming world could create an epic experience on the road. Here are some features of Afeela.

• The 3D graphics and images are powered by Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5.3.
• Ultra-wide Display as Dashboard
• Detailed 3D maps, virtual worlds, AI, and augmented reality (AR) views of the surrounding
• Keep passengers occupied with media from Sony's different TV, movie, and gaming catalogs.
• Multi-camera driver assistant system

Safety and Accuracy

The combination of the above-mentioned features gives the users the experience of a real-world epic game. The next question that came to my mind was about the safety of the Afeela Car. Will these highly automated and graphical automobiles be able to provide the safety that is required on the road?

Well, They have provided the answers to that question as well. The car consists of UE5's (Unreal Engine 5) highly realistic graphics which improves safety. The gaming engine's highly realistic simulated landscapes allow for more precision when training the visual models and neural network processing that enable the EV's driver assistance features.

AFEELA and entertainment

The Afeela will use Sony's Spatial Audio technology to create its own noise reduction bubble. According to Sony Honda Mobility's representations, there are around 30 speakers inside the Afeela car.

Other features of Afeela car

I will point out some other features of Afeela which were disclosed during the CES.

• Big side mirrors
• Wireless mobile phone charger
• All wheel drive
• Two 180kW motors
•  91kWh lithium-ion battery pack
• Up to 150kW fast DC charging

According to the people who had the chance to feel the inside of the car, the Afeela car is more like a movie theater than a vehicle with driver and passenger seats. Although, it has a modest large screen, the front bumper can turn the user into a rolling advertisement for Sony films and video games by tapping a button.

The car's speed and range, as well as its fundamental driving functions, have yet to be determined, but it will be manufactured at a Honda facility and benefit from Honda's expertise.

Future developments and the launch

According to the Sony Honda Mobility, the Afeela car will be available to pre-order during 2025 and it will be released to the world during 2026.

Anyhow, the car or the prototype exhibited during the CES was not the end product of the invention. It's still adding more features to it, forming new agreements with Microsoft to leverage Azure to create an AI conversational personal agent and with Polyphony Digital to develop vehicles that fuse the virtual and real. Along with these features, the car is a concept-y, high-tech car that contributes to the future of Automobiles.

Visit the previous review about Audi RS3 2022.