Sony Honda Mobility (SHM), the Japanese joint venture automotive company founded by Sony Group and Honda Motor to produce battery electric vehicles in 2022, is collaborating with Microsoft to create an artificial intelligence-supported agent for its new electric car, Afeela-EV. It will be released in 2025.
According to Sony Honda Mobility, the company aims to “redefine” the relationship between people and mobility by creating an “emotional experience” for drivers and passengers. It hopes to achieve this by developing a conversational personal agent that will be powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.
“AI plays a key role in achieving our goal of redefining the relationship between people and mobility and enhancing the emotional user experience,” said Izumi Kawanishi, representative director, president and chief operating officer of Sony Honda Mobility. “Microsoft is an important partner in delivering the conversational personal agent. “We are pleased to work with Microsoft to realize our vision.”
The press conference was held ahead of CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Sony Honda Mobility will showcase its mobility technology.
“Generative AI is a new canvas that empowers human creativity and creates opportunities for creators and designers to completely transform the in-car experience,” said Hawk. “We are proud of our collaboration with Sony Honda Mobility and excited to see their innovative use of Azure AI technologies and their ability to develop with confidence knowing that Microsoft Azure provides a reliable platform as the AI environment and mobility industry evolves. “As these new technologies come to the fore, safe and responsible AI will continue to be a top priority for both organizations.”