Sony Afeela could be just what this autonomous electric vehicle industry needs. I said it there, and it's a change of opinion that comes from finally sitting down on the prototype collaboration between Sony and Honda. Sony Afeela, the EV with the silliest name, can offer everything you want, including artificial intelligence, in a next-level autonomous electric car.
It's been a long road for Sony Honda Mobility's Afeela EV autonomous car prototype. We first learned about it years ago, when it was still called Sony Vision S. However, the rebranding introduced two years ago at CES 2023 created some headaches.
Vision S was great. Afeela is a baseball for making fun of puns. Part of the problem is that Sony, for the most part, kept the media at arm's length. That changed this week when Sony began inviting press to a hangar at the Classic Car Club on the west side of Manhattan.
Afeela is a joint project between Sony and Honda, and company representatives insist it's a 50-50 effort. Honda didn't just build an electric vehicle and ask Sony for brand consent. Instead, both companies' fingerprints are all over the car.
In retrospect, the Classic Car Club might not have been the best place to showcase Afeela's relatively low-key design. Outside the building was a collection of expensive and flashy classic and sports cars. The gray Afeela sat alone in the cavernous hangar, looking much as it did when I saw it at CES last year and the year before that. Sony told me that other color options will be available when the EV goes up for pre-order next year and ships in 2026.
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Sony's intention this time, however, was not just to antiseptically promote Afeela's capabilities. Almost immediately I was invited to sit in the mostly white interior.
First, however, I had to find hope to open one of the sedan's four doors. While most EVs have recessed handles, the Afeela has none. They quickly showed me how the car could communicate with the companion app on your phone and open the door when you approached the car. If app control isn't your thing, there are small hidden buttons near each window. One press and the door opened by itself. There is another button inside the door that I used to open and close the car door.
As I settled into the comfortable bucket seat, the chair moved forward and the yoke-style steering wheel lowered into my lap. My gaze was instantly drawn to the nearly full dashboard touchscreen. We slide it to see various content options. It supports customization, games (somewhat incongruously, there was a PlayStation controller right under the dash, but we never got it to work with the car), and even movies. You can slide content toward or away from the controller. There will be a method to ensure that a movie playing on the far right of the screen does not distract the driver, although Sony was unable to describe the technology that will make this possible.
My favorite use of this screen was as a giant navigation map. We pinch it, zoom in and out, and zoom in to transform it into a 360-degree 3D rendering view.
The dashboard right in front of me, which is also customizable, has an image of the car and the Fortnite logo above it. I was never able to drive the electric vehicle, and Sony Honda Mobility hasn't said anything about certain key specs, such as range. However, this screen offered a clue.
I noticed the 0 MPH reading and a “Range” reading on the far left. The bar appeared to be 84% full and promised 234 miles left. That could mean Afeela will be in the 250 or even 275 mph range, which would roughly match the base range of a rear-wheel-drive Tesla Model 3.
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Being a prototype, there were many things I couldn't experience (like a test drive) or examine, such as the trunk and trunk. Even the 360 spatial audio sound system was incomplete, but they were willing to let me listen. He played music. but also soundscapes that filled the ears and the cabin. The electric vehicle will include sound suppression features which should mean that even if we play the music at full volume, people outside the car may not be able to hear it.
Afeela uses a combination of cameras (I wasn't told how many) and Lidar sensors to achieve autonomy and deliver information about the environment, other cars and pedestrians to the driver. Along with a standard side view and rearview mirror, a pair of screens can show you a more complete view from each side of the car (Sony never activated them in my demo). The rearview mirror can switch between a standard mirror and a rear camera.
I also slid into the spacious rear seats and faced what looked like a 12-inch touchscreen (there was one on the back of each front seat). They showed maps, but could be used to show movies, play games, access music, and more.
The electric vehicle has many themes and depending on which one you choose (or even create), the ambient lighting integrated throughout the car will adjust, as will the sounds. I like the Fortnite blue tone we ended up with.
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A rolling computer
Afeela is a smart car. While Sony Honda Mobility did not detail the manufacturer, they claim that the electric vehicle has a powerful system on a chip (SoC) capable of 800 ToPs (trillion operations per second) and that it supports onboard machine learning artificial intelligence that, in combination All cameras and sensors should meet Sony Honda Mobility's goal of Level 3 and Level 2+ autonomy.
That means the car will be able to drive itself, but will still require the driver to maintain contact with the steering wheel as a backup. Company representatives told me that the system is well equipped to handle night driving and bad weather. The car will also receive regular wireless system updates.
Afeela uses this intelligence to learn about you and make adjustments, such as changing your morning commute routine if it knows (via access to your calendar) that you have a meeting this morning and offering faster routes to ensure you arrive on time.
Although Sony Honda Mobility promises pre-orders next year and delivery in 2026, it still has nothing to say about the price. While the car and its tech-packed interior are exciting and the exterior is pleasantly attractive, the Afeela represents a big question mark in the electric vehicle space.
No one outside the company knows how it will drive, exactly how far it can go, what its 0-60 mph capabilities are, or how all those in-cabin capabilities will work for the driver and passengers in the real world.
However, what we do know is what Afeela means. This is how a Sony Honda Mobility representative described it to me:
At the heart of the mobility experience is creating a feeling. Take that idea of creating a feeling, combine augmentation, economy and affinity, and you get A Feel A, and that's where Afeela comes from.”
Well, we'll take your word for it.
