New Honda EV to feature built-in PS5

A new electric vehicle in the works by Sony Honda Mobility is set to include a host of Sony entertainment features, including a built-in PS5.

A new electric vehicle is in development by joint venture Sony Honda Mobility, and the company’s president says it could feature a built-in PS5, alongside a host of other Sony entertainment features.

The information comes from a new interview conducted by the Financial Times with Sony Honda Mobility president Izumi Kawanishi. In the interview, Mr Kawanishi said future vehicles have to compete on services and entertainment, which he said Tesla was falling behind in.

“Sony has content, services and entertainment technologies that move people,” Mr Kawanishi said. “We are adapting these assets to mobility, and this is our strength against Tesla.”

He went on to say Tesla wasn’t providing any content services itself, and that integrating a PlayStation 5 into vehicles was “technologically possible”.

In order to achieve this, however, the company thinks a fully self-driving car is absolutely necessary, otherwise entertainment services like gaming could become dangerous distractions.

The Sony PlayStation 5, or PS5, offers thousands of games, with near-complete backwards compatibility with most PS4 games. Picture: Sony

Sony Honda Mobility Inc. is a new joint venture from Sony Group Corporation and Honda Motor Co. Ltd., formed with the purpose of making the electric vehicles of the future. The company hopes to combine Honda’s vehicle design and manufacturing capabilities with Sony’s software, entertainment, and services expertise to create a “software-first” experience for car owners.

The company hasn’t officially decided on a name or branding for its vehicles, but it’s got plenty of time to come up with something — the first electric vehicles from the joint venture aren’t due to hit the market until the middle of 2026 at the earliest.

Tesla vehicles already have some games available to play in-vehicles, but regulators say it could be a distraction from safe driving. Picture: iStock

Sony Honda isn’t the only EV manufacturer trying to get games into its cars, however. Indie devs said that Tesla wanted their games in its cars for free, asking them to provide a compatible build of the game without offering any compensation. One of the developers, Sam Barlow, called it “one of the sillier ideas [he’s] heard”.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has come under fire since his purchase of Twitter earlier this year, especially since verified Twitter impostors started causing trouble for gamers. Musk’s approach to verification, which allowed anybody to purchase the blue checkmark for $11.49 a month, saw an influx of new accounts impersonating big games publishers, confusing unsuspecting Twitter users.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.