Sony and Honda have announced Afeela, a new EV offering

Honda and Sony’s joint mobility venture revealed their new EV prototype during Sony’s CES presentation on Wednesday in Las Vegas. This prototype is known as Afeela and will be the first electric car produced by the venture. The company believes that it will be ready for sale in three years (2026) in North America. 

The company has not offered a lot of information about the new EV offering, however, according to Yasuhide Mizuno, the CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, the car will be a unique offering that will include entertainment, AI, augmented reality and virtual reality features. It is likely that it will be self-driven, though this is not confirmed.

Elaborating on the same, Mizuno said “Afeela represents our concept of an interactive relationship where people feel the sensation of interactive mobility and where mobility can detect and understand people and society by utilizing sensing and AI technologies,”

What do we know about Afeela so far?

The exterior of the car is believed to pack 40 different sensors, including ultrasonic, lidar, cameras, and radar. As a result of this, it will be able to detect objects and drive automatically without manual driving required. The car has been built keeping three themes in mind, autonomy, augmentation, and affinity. Some of the software in the car may come with subscription services, which means users will have to pay to use them on a monthly basis. 

When will Afeela launch?

The preorders for this EV will open sometime in 2025, and the car will be sold in America in 2026, followed by Japan and certain parts of Europe.