Sony shows off new Honda car by driving it with a PS5 controller

Sony showed off the latest prototype of its electronic vehicle collaboration with Honda by driving the car on stage using a PlayStation 5 controller.

Sony Honda Mobility, a joint venture established in 2021, intends to launch its first electric vehicle model, ‘AFEELA’, by 2025, which it says will be built around a “premium entertainment experience”.

Ultimately, Sony Honda Mobility hopes to release fully self-driving vehicles. Perhaps more striking during its latest CES presentation on Monday, however, was how it showed AFEELA could be driven using a PS5 DualSense controller.

Sony Honda Mobility president and COO, Izumi Kawanishi, claimed that the remote driving demo was “a tech showcase only”, however.

Further blurring the lines between its video game and vehicle operations, Sony also announced a collaboration between Sony Honda Mobility and Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital.

SHM and Polyphony will partner in vehicle development, Sony said, with the aim of “creating new value with partners by sharing vehicle information”.

“The purpose of this partnership is to develop vehicles that fuse the virtual and the real, mainly in the area of human senses and emotions by combining Polyphony Digital’s simulation technology with the development of actual vehicles by SHM,” it said.

The AFEELA Prototype 2024 introduced at CES will be included in a patch update for Gran Turismo 7 later this year, allowing players to drive the car in-game before it’s made available.