A partnership between Sony and Honda was one of the most unexpected announcements from the auto industry in the last few years. The fruits of that partnership, the Afeela EV, won’t be experienced by drivers for another few years. Until then, the two companies have been showcasing the prototype EV around the U.S. for both the public and the media to see.
I recently got a chance to go down to San Diego to Qualcomm’s headquarters to check out the Afeela prototype. While it’s still not quite ready for prime time, what’s coming certainly is interesting. Before checking out the prototype, I got a chance to sit down with the general manager of Afeela’s system architecture Takuya Nishibayashi to get a bit more information about the EVs software.
Nishibayashi gave me some detail on how Afeela is using software to be more than just an EV. Utilising Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis as a basis to run things like advanced driver safety assistance systems and telematics, the most impressive part of the software is how it’s being used to turn the EV into an entertainment platform for drivers and passengers.
Nishibayashi said that Sony/Honda are partnering with Epic Games and while he couldn’t say much about what is coming for the future through that partnership, he did say that they are working on a way for the Afeela to be a mobile gaming platform for PlayStation. There will be some kind of remote in car gaming capability — though I was told that engineering teams are looking for a way to have a physical Playstation console inside the vehicle as well. Nishibayashi says that by working with Epic Games, they are looking to define “new mobility experiences” for drivers, an interesting approach to set it apart as more and more EVs come to market.
Software is also going to be used to bring a new user experience for phone mirroring. Nishibayashi didn’t rule out that Sony/Honda wouldn’t take a similar approach to using their own native software like GM is planning to do. He did acknowledge that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto were important to buyers, but he mentioned that if they could do something that delivered a user experience that was better, people may take to it.
Climbing inside the Afeela is still pretty impressive. Massive screens that run from door to door immediately let you know that this thing aims to deliver more than just a driving experience. The ultra HD screens can display whatever information the driver needs, as well as show movies and music that play through a surround audio system that probably sounds better than many home theatre systems. There are also various themes that can change colour and lighting both inside and out the vehicle when they’re selected.
But, again, it’s still early days, and don’t count on too much of the Afeela staying the same. It was hammered into me that this is still just a prototype. While features like the cameras for sideview mirrors and yoke steering wheel are probably not making it to production, most everything else will change in some way, too. I was told that everything from the “Afeela” name to the design of the car itself is expected to be different by 2026. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with. Hopefully, it’ll be worth the wait.