CES 2024 was stuffed with all kinds of tech, however Sony’s unveiling of its idea automobile, Afeela, in all probability needs to be the showstopper. You’d assume it’ll simply be one other Tesla wannabe, however no—you may management the auto with the DualSense controller.
The PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller is commonly hailed as top-of-the-line controllers so far. And as demonstrated at Sony’s CES occasion, now you can use it to regulate an precise automobile. They’ve partnered with Honda to create their first electrical automobile, which was “pushed” onstage utilizing the controller by Izumi Kawanishi, the president of the three way partnership Sony Honda Mobility.
Neat, However Not Sensible for Many Causes
Kawanishi launched the most recent iteration of the tech the workforce has been engaged on by busting out the PS5 controller. He mentioned he’d like to point out the viewers a facet of the software program behind Afeela. Then, with some soothing piano music, he piloted the multi-ton automobile onto the stage utilizing the DualSense—Gran Turismo-style—within the room. Because it was pushed out, the automobile’s headlights lit up amidst the darkened stage. Cameras have been additionally mounted inside to show the automobile had no driver on the steering wheel.
Kawanished reassured the gang that this was only a tech demo; the DualSense-controlled Sony automobile isn’t coming to a showroom close to you but. The purpose of the Afeela was to point out Honda and Sony’s perception that software program can outline new values and features. He then highlighted the electrical automobile’s camera-equipped AI imaginative and prescient system, which aids automated driving.
The concept of with the ability to drive a automobile utilizing a controller is a novelty for positive. If somebody allowed me to remotely management an empty automobile on an enormous monitor to race my associates, you don’t must ask me twice. However let’s be sincere—no person’s going to drive round of their automobile utilizing the DualSense to steer.
A Flashy Entrance Certainly
At an occasion highlighting tech like CES, knocking folks’s socks off could be difficult since everybody’s attempting to impress the customers and content material creators. Nonetheless, I’ve to say Sony’s social gathering trick with the Afeela and DualSense controller was notably memorable. It appeared like a reversal of the PlayStation’s typical promise. As a substitute of utilizing the {hardware}, just like the PSVR2, to supply an immersive digital world, at that second, it was employed to have an effect on the actual world.
The DualSense controller is a gaming system that’s designed primarily for use by youngsters, but it surely does have some bells and whistles that make it viable for automotive purposes. For instance, its haptic suggestions within the palm grips may make it so that you’d really feel the nuances and bumps within the highway and sense climate circumstances. Sadly, the flexibility to regulate a automobile with it’s merely a one-time tech demo, however maybe it is a signal that Sony plans to make new variations of the DualSense that may have non-gaming-related options.
Sony has penned the Afeela’s launch within the US for 2023. The corporate has but to reveal any particulars relating to value or vary.