Spot the difference: Sony’s electric car gets a crossover version

Summary

Sony Honda Mobility isn’t going to build the Vision-S, though. Its first car is called the Afeela 1, and if you live in California and can afford the $89,900 starting price, you can already order one. It’s a little more anonymous to look at than the old Vision-S, and that applies to the new crossover prototype that SMH unveiled yesterday; according to friends on the ground, other than the height it’s hard to tell the two EVs apart. It’s all about AI The big news, at least in terms of detail, wasn’t the crossover, which Sony Honda Mobility says will arrive on sale here in 2028. Rather, like seemingly every other corporation out there, it’s all about AI. A “vision-language model” will “elevate” the Afeela’s partially automated driver assist—which requires the human to pay attention while the car steers, accelerates, and brakes—into something more fully autonomous, capable of point-to-point driving without any other human input, at least under some conditions. “Specifically, we are constantly reviewing sensor devices and layouts, further improving computing power, and making our End-to-End Driving AI stronger,” said Izumi Kawanishi, president and COO of Sony Honda Mobility. “As a result, the cabin will evolve into a drive-less environment, reducing the task of manual driving, and providing more freedom to relax and enjoy entertainment content. In the future, the drive-less environment will transform the cabin into a true ‘Creative Entertainment Space,’” Kawanishi said. Not having to drive will free you up to interact with the onboard personal AI, which uses Microsoft’s OpenAI tech. The AI agent “enhances mobility interactions through personalized natural dialogue. This elevates the relationship between people and mobility into something more personal and long-lasting,” Kawanishi said, adding that Sony Honda Mobility wants to use AI “sensitively while carefully considering personal information and privacy.”