Back in May 2022, Honda and Sony announced a new joint venture called the Sony Honda Mobility. Now, the company has unveiled the name of its new electric vehicle brand. Named as ‘Afeela’, the company also showcased a prototype model
Design of the prototype Afeela EV
The vehicle can be described as a four-door fastback. The car features a clean design and gets a large lightbar at the front. This lightbar can interact with both people and other vehicles on the road. According to Sony, this is an interface for a new era.
In terms of size, the car measures 4,896 mm long, 1,900 mm wide and is 1,460 mm tall. It will rival Hyundai’s Ioniq 6. The wheel size is 21 inches and it gets aero wheels. The car also comes with a sleek roofline and camera instead of conventional mirrors.
Coming to the insides, the design language is minimalist. The cabin gets a large panoramic digital screen, which is the talking point of the whole interior. There is space for five occupants and a large panoramic roof allows plenty of light inside the car. There are digital screens on the seat backs while the steering wheel gets a yoke design. The steering also gets touchpads and buttons.
Technology of the prototype Afeela EV
The car will be underpinned by the Qualcomm Snapdragon Digital Chassis technology. This will allow the car to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), personalisation and other intuitive tech.
The car’s computer will be able to process upto 800 trillion operations per seconds. There are 45 cameras and sensors for the autonomous driving systems which are said to be of Level 3. These are currently under development. The car will also use augmented reality and cloud connect. Sony Honda Mobility has partnered with Epic Games, which will allow a nice integration between real and virtual world while exploring new entertainment possibilities. It will make use of digital innovations and the metaverse.
Launch timeline of the prototype Afeela EV
While there is no clear information on the same, Sony Honda says that pre-booking for the electric vehicle is tentatively scheduled for the first half of 2025. Deliveries would be expected to commence in early 2026 internationally.
Also Read – Honda’s EV could feature a Sony PS5 console.
