You understand how Sony’s making a electric car with Honda that’s coming in 2026? Sony Honda Mobility is now letting journalists critically contact its Afeela prototype — and play with a Gran Turismo video game version of the automobile whereas sitting contained in the precise machine.
That’s why I drove to PlayStation’s North American headquarters final week, to strive an Afeela inside an Afeela and contact the issues we couldn’t touch before. However I obtained a bit greater than I bargained for!
Right here’s my fast 50-second video of the expertise, and a brief record of the brand new issues I’ve realized.
1) Don’t count on check drives anytime quickly.
No, earlier than you ask, they didn’t let me drive the precise Sony Honda automobile. I grabbed the wheel and pushed the pedals, however they did nothing — in recreation or in any other case. “We are going to present journalists with the chance to check drive as quickly as doable in keeping with the automobile improvement schedule,” reads an announcement from Sony Honda Mobility by way of third-party spokesperson Glenn Mandel.
I’m listening to check drives aren’t coming this 12 months — subsequent 12 months is feasible — nevertheless it may even be 2026 earlier than a journalist will get behind a working wheel.
2) There’s now a bodily button to allow you to open the door.
There was two methods to open the prototype’s door from outdoors. You might press a button within the Afeela’s smartphone app, or let a digicam system open it for you after it acknowledges your face. The newest prototype has a 3rd technique, although: a bodily button mounted beneath the window that may ship the identical sign. I pressed it, and it labored nice. Sony Honda remains to be deciding methods to authenticate you, although — reps couldn’t say if it will use a keyfob or some sort of digital car key like UWB to realize it’s you close by.
3) The Afeela gained’t let a driver see what’s on the passenger’s display.
The Afeela’s extra-wide display is one in every of its most placing options, however Sony Honda doesn’t plan to let the motive force see your entire factor whereas in movement. As a substitute, it’ll use some type of privateness filter to wall off the passenger’s part of display to allow them to proceed to look at with out distracting the motive force.
“Specs for mass manufacturing haven’t but been determined, however we plan to put in a mechanism that can not be seen from the motive force’s aspect whereas driving in order that the motive force can drive safely,” SHM tells us.
4) There in all probability gained’t be an precise PS5 inside.
I performed Gran Turismo 7 on the Afeela’s display, streaming wirelessly from a close-by PS5 utilizing Sony’s PS Distant Play app. There isn’t an precise PS5 console within the automobile, and there’s at the moment no plan to vary that. In January, Sony Honda Mobility president and COO Izumi Kawanishi advised me it was nonetheless undecided whether a real PS5 would appear, however SHM is now “assuming distant play as a substitute of putting in a PS5 console.”
It’s additionally not clear should you’ll have the ability to use the Afeela’s personal steering wheels and pedals to play something.
5) The Afeela’s “private agent” may immediate you with questions.
Sony Honda inked a deal with Microsoft last year to create a “conversational private agent” for the automobile, and whereas there’s no agency particulars but on what that really means, I’m listening to the objective is for the automobile’s AI to immediate you with questions after trying to anticipate your wants.
“We’re contemplating the potential for two-way communication between individuals and automobiles, and we’re additionally growing an interactive private agent utilizing Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in collaboration with Microsoft,” writes SHM after I ask. “We imagine that since it should develop relying on the consumer, we can talk in line with the consumer’s preferences.”
6) There’s a superb motive Sony Honda didn’t allow us to contact the automobile at CES.
I’m going over this within the video, however many items of the prototype are at the moment simply mockups, not purposeful but. That features fancy issues just like the digital aspect mirrors and rear view mirrors, but in addition mundane bits like flip sign stalks, solar visors, glove and storage compartments, and most elements of the touchscreen consumer expertise.
I may scroll round a map of Las Vegas, however couldn’t faucet on any of the pins; I may scrub via a enjoying video and sling it to the motive force’s or passenger’s aspect of the display with a gesture, however couldn’t fireplace up a whole lot of different options on the touchscreen or within the companion smartphone app. I’m not dinging SHM, although; Sony Honda has been utterly clear that it is a prototype, and has a pair extra years to determine all of it out.
7) The Afeela doesn’t essentially must be a rolling Sony advert.
Sure, the present prototype has a ridiculous digital billboard across its front bumper that shows Sony properties like Spider-Man and Horizon Forbidden West, and allows you to tune the automobile’s digital motor sound with noises impressed by Sony properties as much as and together with the Crunchyroll anime streaming service. However a spokesperson tells me Sony Honda is seeking to companion with non-Sony entities too — and I used to be capable of show any textual content I preferred on the bumper display simply by typing it into the telephone app.
I selected “The Verge,” in fact.