Honda and Sony have joined forces to co-develop an electric vehicle through a joint venture called Sony Honda Mobility (SHM). The announcement for a concept EV was made on October 13, seven months after the two companies signed an MoU for a strategic alliance in the mobility field on March 4, 2022. As per the MoU, the two Japanese majors have agreed to lead innovation in the mobility industry through joint development and sales of high value-added electric vehicles (EVs), and creating a business to provide mobility services.

The JV will see Honda brings its expertise in mobility development capabilities, vehicle body manufacturing technology and aftersales service management, while Sony will bring the development and application of imaging, sensing, telecommunication, network, and entertainment technologies. 

Sony Honda Mobilityʼs high value-added EV concept is defined as the 3As – Autonomy, Augmentation, and Affinity. SHM says “cutting-edge technologies will be applied to realize the 3As.”

SHM aims to develop Level 3 automated drive under limited conditions and to enable Level 2+ driver assistance in even more situations such as urban driving.- Planned hardware includes high-performance SoCwith total processing power exceeding 800 TOPS.

A new HMI will be introduced, providing a personalised in-car experience through cloud-service connectivity, realising entertainment beyond driving. SHM says it “aims to evolve mobility space into entertainment and emotional space, by seamlessly integrating real and virtual worlds, and exploring new entertainment possibilities through digital innovations such as the metaverse. High-performance integrated ECUs including two latest-generation SoCs for HMI/IVI system combined with AD/ADAS ECU are planned to replace conventional ECUs.

SHM, which aims to realise an interactive mobility society and create a new entertainment experience, will design a comprehensive service architecture that positions mobility as a mobility experience service, incorporating an integrated service framework that is consistent throughout from in-vehicle software to cloud-based software.

The company’s aim is to become “a ‘Mobility Tech Company’ that provides high value-added products and services, and strives to create new relations with its customers, by adopting new ideas through new software-oriented technologies and actively building partnerships with other companies.”

SHM plans to manufacture its first EV at Hondaʼ s North America factory. Pre-orders for the first product are planned to begin in the first half of 2025, with sales to commence before the end of 2025. Deliveries are planned to start in the United States in spring 2026, followed by Japan in the second half of 2026.