Do you know how Sony is teaming up with Honda to develop an electric car coming in 2026? Sony Honda Mobility is now letting newshounds get in serious touch with its Afila prototype and play games with it Gran Turismo The online game model of the auto era is sitting in the fresh device.
That’s why I went to PlayStation’s North American headquarters afterward, to try out an Afeela within an Afeela and approach issues we couldn’t approach before. However, I was given a little more than I bargained for!
Here’s a quick 50-second video of my experience, and a short list of the latest points I learned.
1) Don’t expect to get a look at the drive any time soon.
Denial, before you ask, they won’t let me bond to the new Sony Honda Automotive. I grabbed the wheel and used the pedals, although they didn’t do anything – in-game or otherwise. A comment from Sony Honda Mobility through third-party spokesperson Glenn Mandel said, “We will provide journalists with the opportunity to test drive the vehicle as soon as possible in line with the vehicle development schedule.”
I’m hearing that test drives aren’t coming at the moment – then the moment is possible – but it may also be 2026 before a journalist gets behind the wheel.
2) There is now a physical button to help you see the door.
There are two strategies for making a prototype door visible from the outside. You have to press a button in Afila’s smartphone app, or allow a digital camera machine to see it for you so it can admire your face. The original prototype has a third mode, however: a physical button attached to the bottom of the window that can send the same signal. I pressed it, and it worked admirably. Sony Honda is still figuring out how to authenticate you, though — reps couldn’t say whether some sort of virtual automotive key, like a keyfob or UWB, would be required to sense when you’re within reach. May need it.
3) Afila does not allow any driver to see what is on the passenger display.
The Afila’s extra-wide display is one of its best features, although Sony Honda doesn’t plan on letting the driver see the all-factor generation in motion. This, in turn, would require some sort of privacy filter to block off the passenger’s field of view so they can continue watching without distracting the driver.
SHM tells us, “The specifications for mass production have not been decided yet, but we are planning to install a mechanism that cannot be seen from the driver’s side while driving so that the driver can safely Can drive.”
4) There probably won’t be a new PS5.
I performed gran turismo 7 On Afila’s display, games can be streamed wirelessly from a nearby PS5 using Sony’s PS Faraway Play games app. There is no new PS5 console in the car, and plans to replace it have recently been ruled out. In January, Sony Honda Mobility president and COO Izumi Kawanishi told me it was still uncertain whether the actual PS5 would arrive, but SHM is now “considering remote play rather than installing a PS5 console.”
It’s also no longer unclear if you’ll be able to use Afila’s individual steering wheels and paddles to play the rest of the game.
5) Afila’s “personal agent” will likely lead You With questions.
Sony Honda recently made a deal with Microsoft to create a “Conversational Personal Agent” for autos, and now the main points of the company have been negated, but if truth be told I’m hearing that its The purpose is for auto. to AI guided you An effort is being made to wait for your wishes with upcoming questions.
“We are considering the possibility of two-way communication between people and cars, and we are also developing an interactive personal agent using the Microsoft Azure OpenAI service in collaboration with Microsoft,” SHM writes when I ask. “We believe that as this grows based on the user, we will be able to communicate according to the user’s preferences.”
6) There’s a very good explanation for why Sony Honda didn’t allow us to touch base with the auto at CES.
I tour it in the video, but many of the pieces of the prototype are now just mockups, not useful yet. This includes fancy things like virtual side mirrors and rear view mirrors, but also mundane things like flip signal stalks, solar visors, glove and attic bins, and much of the touchscreen the user enjoys.
I could simply scroll through the Las Vegas map, but couldn’t tap on any pins; I could simply watch a playing video and casually cast it to the driver’s or passenger’s side of the screen, but couldn’t bring up many of the optional features on the touchscreen or in important other smartphone apps. Despite the fact that I am no longer ignoring SHM; Sony Honda has made it abundantly clear that this is a prototype, and it has a few extra years to figure it all out.
7) Afila doesn’t necessarily want to be a Sony ad.
Of course, the Stream prototype has a cool virtual billboard on its entrance bumper that presents Sony homes like spider boy And horizon restricted west, and lets you set the auto’s virtual motor tones to music from the Crunchyroll anime streaming provider, as well as noises inspired by Sony homes. However a spokesperson told me that Sony Honda is considering partnering with non-Sony units as well – and I was able to get any favorite text displayed on the bumper screen simply by typing it into the phone app.
Ultimately I chose “The Verge.”
