Sony and Honda formed a company to develop electric cars in March 2022, and at CES the two Japanese companies launched a new electric car brand, Afeela, and showed off an early prototype. For production cars, dozens of Sony sensors will be used, the graphics engine “Unreal Engine” will also be used, Qualcomm processors will be present.
Afeel prototypePhoto: shm-afeela.com
Sony and Honda unveiled a sedan prototype that the Sony boss said included 40 company-made sensors (video cameras, radar, ultrasonic sensors and lidar). The car will be able to recognize objects and people in traffic and will have a high degree of autonomy.
Sony Honda Mobility, the company created in 2022, announced in the fall that the first car jointly developed by the Japanese automaker and the electronics giant will be launched in 2026. A European launch is also being considered. Orders will be available in early 2025 in the United States, with the first cars expected to reach customers in spring 2026.
The cars will compete with brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo and Audi, so they will also cost tens of dollars. Sony has said that there will also be subscription services, so some options will only be available for a fee.
The Sony-Honda collaboration proves, once again, that big tech companies need automakers and vice versa. More and more technology is being put into cars and automakers are hoping to attract more customers, especially young ones. Electronics and technology companies also see an opportunity to make money from various subscription services that will only be accessible to drivers, if they are willing to pay a monthly fee.
Honda and Sony announced in March 2022 that they will create a joint venture to make and sell electric cars, with the first models hitting the market in a few years.
The first electric car will be launched first in the United States and then in Japan, and will clearly be a premium model. A possible release in Europe is also being discussed, but it is still too early. Orders can be placed from 2025.
Sony will take care of the software part, from everything that will be displayed on the whiteboard, to cloud services for entertainment and payments.
Sony will also provide various sensors, but also the technologies necessary for the car to have level 3 autonomy, which means that in some moments the driver will not have to devote himself 100% to driving.
Sony has a strong presence in the production of sensors, imaging technologies, cloud computing, 5G and entertainment, so it is well positioned to build electric cars with partner companies, cars that put a lot of technology into.
Sony has lost a lot of market share in electronics and exited some product segments, so going into a promising business with a great partner would be a good idea and add a reliable source of income.
Honda, like Toyota, still has a small share of the all-electric car market, but wants to change that with a long-term plan to electrify the range, with investments of $40 billion. The partnership with Sony could allow it to grow on the premium car side where it is present only in the USA, with the Acura brand, which however has sales of 150,000 cars a year, far from the records of 2005 and 2006: more than 200,000.
Honda will also launch long-range electric cars under its own brand, the first model being the Prologue, to be launched in the US market in 2024.
Surse: The Verge, TechCrunch, Reuters
