• Source:JND
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The Japanese technology company Sony in collaboration with Honda has announced something big at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. On Thursday, the company showcased a new EV prototype called Afeela and announced that it would start selling the car starting in 2026.

The Afeela, a Sony Mobility subsidiary developed in collaboration with Honda, will be using Qualcomm technology. According to Sony, preorders for the car will go on sale in the first half of 2025, and deliveries will start in North America in the early part of 2026. The car has sporty edges and a black roof when showcased during the event.

Yasuhide Mizuno, CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, stated during a keynote address at CES that "Afeela represents our concept of an interactive relationship where people feel the sensation of interactive mobility and where mobility can detect and understand people and society by utilising sensing and AI technologies."

Sony's eagerly anticipated entry into the electric vehicle market, which it announced in March in a partnership with Honda, demonstrates how automakers are putting more emphasis on the cockpit experience in cars, which offers the potential to sell content via subscription services cars, especially as autonomous driving capabilities advance.

It's interesting that the unveiling came after Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon Ride Flex SoC, a new processor designed to handle assisted driving and cockpit features like entertainment. Different chips were used in the past. As a result, manufacturers will be able to cut costs, a company executive told Reuters.

The car will be a zero-emission mode of transportation, but Sony and Honda have hinted that there will be more to the vehicle than just mobility. The vehicle will provide passengers with unmatched entertainment options, and intriguingly, it will have 45 sensors and cameras throughout.