At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Honda and Sony unveiled Afeela, their new joint venture EV brand. The two companies made the announcement on stage together, revealing the new name, logo and the Vision-S concept car.
We did find out some more information on the vehicle.
The plan is to start receiving preorders in the first half of 2025, with sales beginning later in the same year. The current schedule will have Afeela shipping vehicles to customers in the Spring of 2026.
In addition to production schedules, Afeela confirmed the vehicle would have a best-in-class entertainment system built with Epics Games Unreal Engine and Snapdragon chips. According to Kenichiro Yoshida, the CEO of Sony, the prototype is outfitted with 45 cameras and sensors both inside and outside the car to assure security. To avoid accidents, the in-cabin sensors will keep track of the driver’s condition.
The new EV will initially be produced at Honda’s North American factory and will have Level 3 automated driving capabilities under certain conditions, according to prior statements from Sony and Honda. In a vehicle with level 3 autonomy, the driver can still operate the vehicle in congested areas, but only when the system explicitly requests it.
Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO of Sony, said this:
We plan to explore how media can create a fun and exciting mobility interaction. In addition to movies, games, and music, we envision a new in-cabin experience using our expertise in UX and UI technologies.
Naturally as, the vehicle is still a few years away, we do not have any specs for the Afeela’s first vehicle.
However, we can assume that it will be built on Honda’s next-generation architecture.
