Sony Honda Mobility announces partnership with Microsoft, Epic Games and Polyphony Digital

Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) announced partnerships with numerous major technology leaders including Epic Games, Microsoft, and Polyphony Digital.

Representative Director, President, and COO Izumi Kawanishi took the stage to unveil the AFEELA prototype at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday.

Microsoft:

During the press conference, SHM announced a collaboration with Microsoft. Both companies agreed with Microsoft to develop a conversational personal agent using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.

Epic Games:

SHM and Epic Games are taking their last year’s collaboration in a new direction in mobility services and entertainment and released progress of the partnership.

SHM developed an ADAS simulator making use of virtual spaces to create new user experiences in mobility. This simulator will simulate external environmental conditions including for other vehicles, pedestrians, terrain, and weather.

Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) and Epic Games Partnership for real-world simulator

This tech heavily relies on Augmented Reality (AR) to experience the real-world experience.

SHM brings a 3D map from which extensive metadata from the internet is overlaid. Map data can also be used within the development of gaming and entertainment features.

This new car company is also using Unreal Engine 5 gaming engine to integrate sensing and vehicle data in real time.

Polyphony Digital:

SHM inked a deal with Polyphony Digital gaming studio to develop simulation technology for actual vehicles.

In that case, SHM’s first vehicle prototype, Afeela 2024 is tagged with a patch update for Gran Turismo 7 later this year.

(source – SHM)