You understand how Sony’s making a electrical automobile with Honda that’s coming in 2026? Sony Honda Mobility is now letting journalists severely contact its Afeela prototype — and play with a Gran Turismo online game model of the automobile whereas sitting contained in the precise machine.
That’s why I drove to PlayStation’s North American headquarters final week, to attempt an Afeela inside an Afeela and contact the issues we couldn’t contact earlier than. However I received a bit greater than I bargained for!
Right here’s my fast 50-second video of the expertise, and a brief record of the brand new issues I’ve discovered.
1) Don’t count on check drives anytime quickly.
No, earlier than you ask, they didn’t let me drive the precise Sony Honda automobile. I grabbed the wheel and pushed the pedals, however they did nothing — in sport or in any other case. “We are going to present journalists with the chance to check drive as quickly as doable consistent with the car improvement schedule,” reads an announcement from Sony Honda Mobility by way of third-party spokesperson Glenn Mandel.
I’m listening to check drives aren’t coming this yr — subsequent yr is feasible — however it may even be 2026 earlier than a journalist will get behind a working wheel.
2) There’s now a bodily button to allow you to open the door.
There was once two methods to open the prototype’s door from exterior. You might press a button within the Afeela’s smartphone app, or let a digital camera system open it for you after it acknowledges your face. The newest prototype has a 3rd technique, although: a bodily button mounted beneath the window that may ship the identical sign. I pressed it, and it labored nice. Sony Honda continues to be deciding the way to authenticate you, although — reps couldn’t say if it will use a keyfob or some kind of digital automobile key like UWB to understand it’s you close by.
3) The Afeela received’t let a driver see what’s on the passenger’s display screen.
The Afeela’s extra-wide display screen is certainly one of its most hanging options, however Sony Honda doesn’t plan to let the driving force see the complete factor whereas in movement. As an alternative, it’ll use some kind of privateness filter to wall off the passenger’s part of display screen to allow them to proceed to observe with out distracting the driving force.
“Specs for mass manufacturing haven’t but been determined, however we plan to put in a mechanism that can’t be seen from the driving force’s aspect whereas driving in order that the driving force can drive safely,” SHM tells us.
4) There most likely received’t be an precise PS5 inside.
I performed Gran Turismo 7 on the Afeela’s display screen, streaming wirelessly from a close-by PS5 utilizing Sony’s PS Distant Play app. There isn’t an precise PS5 console within the automobile, and there’s presently no plan to vary that. In January, Sony Honda Mobility president and COO Izumi Kawanishi informed me it was nonetheless undecided whether or not an actual PS5 would seem, however SHM is now “assuming distant play as an alternative of putting in a PS5 console.”
It’s additionally not clear in case you’ll be capable of use the Afeela’s personal steering wheels and pedals to play something.
5) The Afeela’s “private agent” may immediate you with questions.
Sony Honda inked a cope with Microsoft final yr to create a “conversational private agent” for the automobile, and whereas there’s no agency particulars but on what that really means, I’m listening to the aim is for the automobile’s AI to immediate you with questions after trying to anticipate your wants.
“We’re contemplating the potential for two-way communication between folks and vehicles, and we’re additionally growing an interactive private agent utilizing Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in collaboration with Microsoft,” writes SHM after I ask. “We imagine that since it’s going to develop relying on the person, we will talk in line with the person’s preferences.”
6) There’s purpose Sony Honda didn’t allow us to contact the automobile at CES.
I’m going over this within the video, however many items of the prototype are presently simply mockups, not purposeful but. That features fancy issues just like the digital aspect mirrors and rear view mirrors, but in addition mundane bits like flip sign stalks, solar visors, glove and storage compartments, and most elements of the touchscreen person expertise.
I may scroll round a map of Las Vegas, however couldn’t faucet on any of the pins; I may scrub by means of a enjoying video and sling it to the driving force’s or passenger’s aspect of the display screen with a gesture, however couldn’t hearth up a whole lot of different options on the touchscreen or within the companion smartphone app. I’m not dinging SHM, although; Sony Honda has been fully clear that this can be a prototype, and has a pair extra years to determine all of it out.
7) The Afeela doesn’t essentially should be a rolling Sony advert.
Sure, the present prototype has a ridiculous digital billboard throughout its entrance bumper that shows Sony properties like Spider-Man and Horizon Forbidden West, and allows you to tune the automobile’s digital motor sound with noises impressed by Sony properties as much as and together with the Crunchyroll anime streaming service. However a spokesperson tells me Sony Honda is trying to accomplice with non-Sony entities too — and I used to be in a position to show any textual content I favored on the bumper display screen simply by typing it into the cellphone app.
I selected “The Verge,” after all.