The Sony automobile is sort of right here. After establishing it via a three way partnership with Honda in 2022 and two years of prototypes, the electronics large’s Afeela model is lastly taking reservations for its first electrical automobile, with deliveries scheduled to start in 2026.
However is it well worth the wait? Coinciding with the opening of reservations, Sony Honda Mobility introduced up to date prototypes of the Afeela 1 (because it’s now formally recognized) to CES 2025, representing what California clients (the Afeela is barely taking reservations in that state) who put down a deposit of refundable of $200. ready to obtain the supply.
This gave me the chance to lastly get behind the wheel of the Afeela 1, and whereas I wasn’t capable of get it out of the Afeela sales space on the Las Vegas Conference Heart, I did get to check out a number of the tech options which can be actually it was speculated to set this automobile aside from different EVs. However this nonetheless left many questions.
The tech-savvy design stays unchanged
In distinction to many startups which have jumped into the EV pool after Tesla, Sony has taken a gradual and methodical method to bringing its first automobile to market. It introduced that purpose at CES 2020 with the Imaginative and prescient S idea, an electrical sedan very like the Afeela 1. It adopted up with the Imaginative and prescient S-02, an SUV, earlier than teaming up with Honda after which asserting the Afeela model at CES 2023.
This makes it the third time Afeela has proven the automobile it plans to promote at CES, although the 2023 model was extra of an idea automobile, with a broad indication of the design course and deliberate options. Afeela introduced a extra refined model to CES 2024 and made some notable adjustments to the model proven at CES this yr.
The production-ready model retains a rounded form, like a pc mouse.
The production-ready model, sitting beneath the highlight and behind the scenes at CES 2025, retains the rounded, mouse-like form that Afeela has been utilizing all alongside. It additionally retains the “media bar”, a projection floor the place the grille would usually be that enables drivers to show good messages like “Have a pleasant day” or PlayStation online game backgrounds, in addition to a central roof flap for a lidar unit. Nonetheless, it’s now flanked by two angled cameras on both facet for optimum discipline of view. They’re among the many 40 sensors for Afeela’s driver help options.
Inside, it is exhausting to inform any adjustments from final yr’s prototype. The display screen consists of the dashboard and spills over the doorways. It is mounted excessive to maintain it nearer to the driving force’s line of sight, and Afeela used a yoke-shaped steering wheel to additional maximize visibility.
The inside continues to be only a display screen and a steering wheel
Now it is protected to say that that is certainly the setup that Afeela plans to enter manufacturing with, and at first look there are some good factors. I discovered it simple to look at even the far proper elements of the display screen with out tilting my head down or to the facet, which explains why this design is being adopted not solely by Afeela, but additionally by mainstream automakers. Ford’s model debuted within the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus luxurious SUV, and BMW introduced its Panoramic iDrive show for future EVs at this yr’s CES.
Like Ford and BMW, Afeela plans to supply in-vehicle video streaming and gaming — however with Sony content material. You’ll be able to even deliver your PlayStation controller and play Ghost of Tsushima or Gran Turismo whilst you wait on your automobile to load.
The display screen is the one premium-feeling factor about this almost $90,000 automobile.
The Afeela 1 cockpit additionally feels prefer it’s designed across the display screen. It is the one premium-feeling factor on this almost $90,000 machine, with spectacular graphics and a bezel-less design that minimizes the separation between totally different segments of the display screen. That is in distinction to a cabin that in any other case has no factors of curiosity.
The dashboard display screen additionally has small arms that mission video from exterior cameras. Automakers like Audi have been attempting to deliver the know-how to the US for years, primarily for the aerodynamic advantage of changing drag-inducing facet mirrors with tiny digicam clips, however have confronted regulatory hurdles. However Afeela merely saved typical mirrors, bypassing these points but additionally making cameras pointless.
UX is TBD
The inside actually comes alive when you begin partaking with a number of the on-screen options. Altering the background additionally adjustments the ambient lighting, and an audio system utilizing Sony 360 Spatial Sound Applied sciences produces a powerful 3D impact whether or not you are listening to streaming audio or watching anime on Crunchyroll. I did a little bit of each with in-car apps that did not require a telephone to be related.
What I could not do was determine how properly the automobile’s voice assistant labored as a result of, properly, it did not. That, together with a navigation system that refused to load, have been reminders that the automobiles Afeela dropped at CES 2025 are nonetheless prototypes.
This was notably inconvenient as a result of with none demonstration of various options or higher understanding, Afeela’s voice assistant seems to be related to what’s already out there from Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz. Like these options, it’s designed to assist drivers entry primary automobile capabilities whereas responding to instructions in an interactive method. Except it seems to be vastly superior in manufacturing automobiles, it will not be very totally different from the established manufacturers.
Driver help could make the distinction
It is a related story with the superior driver help system Sony designed for this automobile. This can be one of many Afeela 1’s signature options, if for no different purpose than that the screen-dominated inside could be a distracting hazard in any other case.
The automobile’s 40 sensors ought to at the very least present good reliability. The variety of sensors creates redundancy and the combination of sensor varieties (radar, lidar, digicam and ultrasound) follows business normal protocol of overlap functionality to make sure there are not any weak factors. It should even be fascinating to see if Afeela has really built-in its lidar, in contrast to Volvo, which began promoting the EX90 electrical SUV with out activating their roof-mounted lidar models.
The automobile’s 40 sensors ought to at the very least present good reliability, creating redundancy.
Initially, nonetheless, Afeela plans to supply solely Stage 2 automation, which means drivers can take their palms off the wheel however should hold their eyes on the street. A monitoring sensor mounted above the show within the heart of the dashboard controls this, because it does within the Stage 2 Basic Motors Tremendous Cruise and Ford Blue Cruise programs already in place within the US. The purpose is to maneuver as much as Stage 3 – permitting for eye steerage in some conditions – sooner or later.
Even Stage 3 shouldn’t be unprecedented. Mercedes-Benz introduced its Drive Pilot system to market in 2023 (albeit on a restricted foundation), and Honda introduced its personal system at CES 2025, which can enter automobiles in-built the identical manufacturing unit because the Afeela. Nonetheless, Honda developed their system independently, so will probably be fascinating to see the way it compares to Sony/Afeela’s.
What does this add as much as?
The truth that Afeela is gearing as much as deliver the sensor-packed, display-packed EV that was first proven at CES 2023 to manufacturing is spectacular. It is too dangerous the remainder of the auto business has already caught on.
Virtually each function of the Afeela 1 – from its display screen structure, to its capacity to stream video, to voice recognition and driver help – is already provided or deliberate to be provided by current automakers. And as a automobile, the Afeela 1 seems to be very good. It must be quick sufficient, however its 300-mile vary is simply sufficient, and its 150-kilowatt DC fast-charge price is not ok for such an costly automobile. Its base value of $89,900 is larger than that of a Lucid Air or Tesla Mannequin S.
A street check could show that the Afeela 1 is greater than meets the attention. It could actually deal with higher, present smoother connectivity and extra succesful driver help options than the competitors. In any other case, it could not have a lot to supply that clients cannot already get from different manufacturers. The Sony title is barely price a lot.
(tagsTranslate) afeela automobile(s) CES 2025
