Sony surpasses Apple

The whole world is talking and speculating about the Apple Car. But so far nothing has been seen. Entertainment group Sony, on the other hand, is constantly pushing ahead with its car plans without major secrecy. The Japanese company made a name for itself with its vehicle works at the CES technology fair held in Las Vegas (USA) in the past two years. Last spring Sony underlined its ambition and entered into a partnership with Honda.

At this year’s CES, the group presented the next step on the road to Sony car. It will neither be called Sony nor Honda, but will be launched under the new Afeela brand. At the same time, the two jointly promoted a study of an electric sedan.

45 cameras and outdoor display

Afeela is surprisingly based on the design of two Sony Vision-S prototypes. The rear end, however, resembles a Porsche a little more than its predecessor. The electric car will face the world with 45 cameras and multiple sensors in preparation for future autonomous driving functions. The sedan can also communicate with passers-by via a screen between the headlights – important in autonomous driving when there is no driver who can react to eye contact or hand signals.

Sony Honda Mobility boss Yasuhide Mizuno said, among other things, Sony wants to provide in-car entertainment and leverage its strengths in artificial intelligence and camera sensors. Electric cars are an important platform for Sony’s future technology and entertainment products.

Mercedes and Co.’s new competitor

The first Afeela is scheduled to launch in 2026, first in the US, then in Japan and Europe. Pre-orders will be possible from 2025. In terms of price, the new brand will play in the top league around Audi, BMW, Mercedes or Volvo. Sony is expected to add subscription services to the software for certain features. Above all, the entertainment features should be affected by this.