Oliver Haslam on January 5, 2023, 7:10 pm

Sony And Honda Announce Their New Electric Vehicle Brand Called Afeela

Sony and Honda have both announced their joint electric vehicle brand at the CES 2023 conference in Las Vegas. The new brand, called Afeela, will begin to start selling cars in North America in 2026 the pair claim.

Beyond that name there isn’t an awful lot to know about Afeela or the car that it intends to sell.

Sony Honda Mobility CEO Yasuhide Mizuno claims that the partnership will involve Sony’s AI, entertainment, AR, and VR expertise while Honda will presumably be the company tasked with actually making the car parts.

There will be plenty of sensors for the car to make use of, all with the aim of making the car drive itself.

We are aiming to develop level 3 autonomous driving optimized for specific conditions, as well as driving assistance features such as level 2+ autonomy for urban and other wide range of conditions.
Our prototype is equipped with a total of 45 cameras and sensors inside and outside the vehicle, together with 800 TOPS of maximum computing power for ECU. We will utilize SoCs from Snapdragon Digital Chassis, a comprehensive solution that delivers customizable, safe and secure mobility experiences.

Afeela also unveiled a concept for its first car, although it remains to be seen if that’s anything like what will ship. The concept itself looked a bit like a squashed Lucid Air, which might not be a bad thing. Still, building an EV isn’t an easy thing to do, so launching a whole new brand at the same time is a big move for the two companies.