Sony and Honda Unveil Jointly Developed Afeela EV Prototype at CES

• Sony and Honda name their joint electric vehicle venture Afeela.
• Prototype is a fastback midsize sedan with screens all over the interior and a yoke instead of a steering wheel.
• Preorders start in 2025, with deliveries to North America in spring 2026.

Today during CES 2023, Sony and Honda announced that their joint partnership (called Sony Honda Mobility) to develop an electric vehicle has a name and a new prototype. The name is "Afeela," and at the show the recently formed company rolled out a prototype that goes in a different direction than the Sony Vision-S 02 prototype that was unveiled at last year's CES. And with the new brand being announced, that's further evidence that these vehicles will be completely separate ventures from Honda's upcoming EVs like the 2024 Prologue.

What's an Afeela?

Afeela is not an acronym, nor is it a cure for any chronic illnesses. It instead alludes to a more connected future where passengers and the vehicle will feel and react to each other. Go figure.

The prototype the company unveiled is light on many details but oddly specific on others. Unlike the Vision-S 02, the Afeela prototype is a fastback sedan with the rough shape of an Audi A7 but with smooth bodylines and a very sparsely decorated exterior. The most prominent styling feature is a weird nose that dangles above the windshield like an abbreviated unicorn horn.

We do know that the prototype will have a 118.1-inch wheelbase and be 192.7 inches long overall, giving it dimensions that are roughly analogous to a midsize sedan. It will be all-wheel drive as well, though we don't know how many motors that will entail. There aren't really any powertrain or battery details to speak of, though the wheels shown on the prototype measure 21 inches.

Screen and roll

Inside, the dashboard is just one large screen that spans the entire width of the vehicle. There are also large screens mounted behind each of the front seats so rear passengers don't feel left out. Sony seems to be using the car's interior as a platform to deliver content, as it refers to the cabin as an "entertainment space that deeply moves your emotions." To that end, the steering wheel has been eliminated in favor of a yoke so the driver has a more unobstructed view of the front screens. And here I thought the yoke experiment had already failed. The look and feel of the screens inside (and apparently one on the prototype's nose) can be customized to various movies or games that interest you, though all of the examples shown are film or video game properties from Sony or its partners, so I hope you really like Fortnite or Spider-Man.

The prototype also comes with 45 cameras and sensors inside and out to keep track of passengers and power the Level 3 autonomous safety features that are still under development. The vehicle is said to be able to detect the driver's approach and adjust seat/steering positions and sound acoustics according to your physical characteristics.

How do I get one?

Given the size and scope of the two companies involved, this isn't your normal EV startup and we'd venture a guess to say the timelines presented are serious. Key details like pricing, range and features will have to wait, but if you're Afeel'in this prototype, preorders for the currently unnamed vehicle will kick off in early 2025 with a goal of having the first deliveries go out to North America in spring 2026.

Edmunds says

None of the features shown or discussed are things we haven't seen or heard before, but it will be interesting to see what a car company and an entertainment company can combine to create as technology spreads even more into transportation.