CES 2026: Sony's AFEELA 1 EV is back and road ready

Sony Honda Mobility showed off the AFEELA 1 electric vehicle again at CES this year. If, like me, you saw it last year, the experience will feel very familiar. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The AFEELA 1 still looks polished, still leans hard into its identity as a rolling entertainment hub, and still feels more like a Sony product than a traditional car. What’s different is that this year is less about flashy new features and more about refinement.

Sony Honda Mobility used its CES keynote to reiterate its vision of "mobility as a creative entertainment space," positioning AFEELA 1 as a car built around time spent inside it, not just getting from point A to point B. Sitting inside the EV again, that philosophy is obvious. The panoramic dashboard display remains the centerpiece, spanning the entire cabin and serving as the primary interface for navigation, media, and apps.

Alongside the AFEELA 1, Sony Honda Mobility also showed off a SUV-style prototype, dubbed AFEELA Prototype 2026. Despite its name, the company says this prototype will likely reach production in 2028 at the earliest. It appeared to be essentially the same as the AFEELA 1, only in SUV form, though Sony Honda Mobility is remaining tight-lipped on further details at this stage. We'll just have to wait to find out more information on AFEELA 1's younger sibling as it gets closer to production.

In the meantime, the AFEELA 1 has plenty to keep us entertained — literally. One of my personal favorite features of the AFEELA 1 is its PlayStation Remote Play. If you already own a PS5, you can stream games to the rear seat displays using a DualSense controller. I got to test it for the first time after it was teased last year, and the connection wasn't too bad. Obviously, it was unable to stream in 4K, but there was no noticeable input lag and it held up reliably even in a crowded demo environment. It’s still very much a "you already need to be bought into the PlayStation ecosystem" feature, but it works more consistently now than it did before.

The AI assistant, AFEELA, is also back, and it’s still best described as competent but unremarkable. Sony Honda Mobility frames it as a “personal agent” powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI, meant to support natural conversation and personalization over time. In practice, it behaves like a standard in-car assistant. It can open apps, set destinations, adjust settings, and respond to basic contextual prompts. It complemented my shirt using the cameras in the car, so that was nice.

Where the AFEELA 1 does feel improved is in the fundamentals. The interior runs more smoothly overall, with faster screen responses and fewer hiccups when switching between apps. The cabin feels quieter and more composed, and it's clear Sony Honda Mobility is prioritizing comfort and stability over experimental features.

That sense of polish also extends to how Sony Honda Mobility is positioning the AFEELA 1 as a productivity space. Beyond entertainment, the car supports apps like Zoom, letting you take video calls from inside the cabin. The camera angle is a bit off, so be aware that you may not look your best when it's on. They demoed it for us, and the camera was wide enough to capture the entirety of the car, rather than framing you like a laptop webcam.

All of this refinement comes at a premium. The AFEELA 1 is priced starting at $89,900, with higher trims exceeding $100,000, firmly placing it in the luxury EV territory. At that price, one's expectation should be higher than just being able to function properly. However, this year’s demo suggests Sony Honda Mobility is focusing on getting the fundamentals right before hitting California's roads later this year.

Head to the Mashable CES 2026 hub for the latest news and live updates from the biggest show in tech, where Mashable journalists are reporting live.