Sony is one of the world’s great entertainment technology companies. Honda is one of the world’s great automakers. Together, they plan to build high-tech electric cars that double as entertainment spaces, working under the brand name Afeela.
Sony Honda Mobility Inc. (SHM), the company that resulted from the partnership, brought its Afeela electric vehicle (EV) prototype to the CES consumer electronics show (CES says its initials don’t stand for anything, but we all know what it means) in Las Vegas this week.
Minimalist Look, Mystery Specs
If you’ve been following this story, that isn’t news. SHM debuted the Afeela prototype to a decidedly muted reception at last year’s CES. The car itself is…fine. A midsize sedan with a minimalist design theme devoid of much ornamentation, it looks a bit like what an HBO sci-fi show about the near future would pass off as a 2035 Audi A6.
Its most prominent unique feature is a “media bar” — a wide, thin LED screen between the headlights that displays the car’s name but can be modified to display other messages. Cut off an Afeela in traffic, and it might have something to say in your rearview mirror.
The companies have never revealed anything about the powertrain of the cars beyond saying it’s electric. But they’re more than empty show models — SHM has released film of them testing in traffic on several continents.
Honda plans to sell plenty of electric cars under its own name. The first, the Honda Prologue midsize SUV, will reach dealerships later this year.
None of that has changed over the past year. The 2024 version of the prototype is superficially identical to the 2023 version. But SHM says much has changed under the skin.
AI for Driver Assists
That includes what SHM calls “AI for ADAS.” You didn’t think an automaker and a tech company would team up to avoid cluttering the language with acronyms, did you?
“AI” is artificial intelligence. “ADAS” is advanced driver assistance systems – what automakers call the first steps toward self-driving cars. ADAS isn’t something wildly advanced. It’s what most new cars have today – things like smart cruise control that can speed up and brake to keep pace with traffic, and lane-keeping systems that can make light steering adjustments to keep a car centered in its lane.
SHM plans to adopt machine learning to improve its ADAS systems. The company has been light on details, but we should note that Honda already has some of the most advanced ADAS tech in the world. It just doesn’t bring it stateside yet. In Japan, the company sells one of the first Level 3 partially automated driving systems available for sale anywhere.
Related: Self-Driving Cars – Everything You Need to Know
A Level 3 system lets the driver take their attention off the road and let the car drive under limited circumstances. Only Mercedes has something similar in the U.S., and it’s only legal in Nevada and parts of California.
Building on technology familiar to Sony, SHM says, the new system will use “the powerful gaming engine Unreal Engine 5” to build a virtual model of the world around the car, including even weather, that feeds data into ADAS systems.
An App Store for the Car
Further fusing driving and technology, SHM says it plans a sandbox for app developers to create new car features. “SHM will provide an environment where creators and developers can freely develop applications and services that run on AFEELA, as well as a digital platform for co-creation and the expression of creativity,” the company says.
