How do you set your electric vehicle apart from a crowded field of competition? Sony decided to show off its prototype vehicle in collaboration with Honda by controlling the automobile with a PS5 controller. However, this sadly won’t be an actual feature and instead was just a tech demonstration at CES.
A video of Sony Honda Mobility president Izumi Kawanishi driving the company’s car–called Afeela–with a DualSense wireless controller was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by Sawyer Merritt. In addition, the user interface for Afeela will be powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine 5. Afeela will come to Gran Turismo 7 this year as part of a patch, so the video game ties are strong with this electric car.
Sony today controlled their EV at CES with a PlayStation controller. pic.twitter.com/ZnTeeGKkiw
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) January 9, 2024
Sony and Honda foreshadowed this type of PS5 integration with its future electric cars back in late 2022. Kawanishi said at the time that “Sony has content, services, and entertainment technologies that move people. We are adapting these assets to mobility, and this is our strength against Tesla.” However, keep in mind that Afeela is still a prototype at this time. Sony Honda Mobility isn’t taking reservations for the vehicle and there is no release date.