I’ve sometimes wished that I could display a message on my car to let other drivers know why I’ve done something stupid on the road, I had pictured a rolling LED dot screen akin to one on a police car that says ‘sorry’ or ‘even f*** you’. Someone at Sony had a similar thought, but they instead want to head down the advertisement route because of course they do.
Sony used its CES 2023 keynote to announce a new brand, Afeela. Because, at the heart of Sony’s idea for a “mobility experience” is (wait for it), the word “feel”.
Still in prototype mode, Sony Honda Mobility CEO Yasuhide Mizuno wheeled the Afeela out on stage to make the announcement.
It’s a car that looks like a Tesla Cybertruck that’s been upscaled so much that its edges are rounded. It’s…I’m not sure what else it is to be honest because the keynote didn’t delve too far into its specs but what we do know is that the Afeela “represents [Sony’s] concept of an interactive relationship where people feel the sensation of intelligent mobility and where mobility can detect and understand people and society by utilising sensing and AI technologies”.
The prototype is equipped with a total of 45 cameras and sensors inside and outside the vehicle. Driver status and vehicle condition are monitored as part of this sensor network, hoping to prevent accidents.
According to Mizuno, with the Afeela, Sony is taking an approach that “aims to set new standards for mobility”. Basically, Sony isn’t happy with a car just being about getting from A to B, in fact, no carmakers really are anymore, it all has to be “an ExPeRiEnCe”.
To that end, I want to circle back to this advertisement banner I mentioned at the start. It’s called a ‘media bar’ and it “allows the vehicle to intellect with the people expressing itself by sharing various types of information to people around it”. Mizuno said Sony plans on exploring the possibility of how media orgs can “create a fun and exciting mobility interaction”. As he said that, an advert for Spider-Man beamed across the car.
Sony also wants to make the Afeela an entertainment hub.
In addition to movies, games and music, the company’s vision for Afeela is to create a new cabin experience. To achieve this, Sony is partnering with Fortnite maker, Epic Games, to develop a “gaming engine for driving”.
It shouldn’t surprise us, Sony has used CES to show off its vision for the future of cars for a few years now.
Wild.