Sony Honda Mobility is touring around with its AFEELA prototype, and we got a chance to have a look at it up close in LA.
AFEELA is the official name of Sony’s fledgling electric car brand, which Sony first showed off as the “VISION-S” at CES in 2020, and has evolved bit by bit every year since then, now with an eventual release date of 2026. Since then, it has formed a joint venture with Honda, called Sony Honda Mobility (SHM), to bring the car to market.
The AFEELA booth was set up in Westfield Topanga, north of LA, where the car will be on display until April 1. We got a chance to have a sit in it and get a technology demo of some of the interior and UI features, though it was still quite limited and in prototype form.
To recap, Sony’s concept was originally stated to have 400kW (536hp) dual-motor all-wheel-drive, 0-100km/h (0-62mph) in 4.8 seconds, and a top speed of 240km/h (149mph). That said, we don’t know if those are still the specs they’re aiming for. And we still have no information on price or battery size (though they have said they want to offer ten-year leases), but we do have two more years until this project bears fruit after all.
And things could change a lot before then. While the original VISION-S concept was pitched with the specs above, we haven’t heard them mentioned since. Sony did show off the car doing road testing in Europe in 2021, but ever since the joint venture with Honda, Sony’s demonstrations have been characterized more as tech demos of potential in-car experiences for a software-defined vehicle.
So… this was sort of a car demo, but more of a technology demo (as they reminded us many times). Despite being only 2 years away, anything that we saw could and probably will change, so keep all of that in mind.
As I and another journalist arrived for a tour, our tour guide stepped aside for a moment and then brought us around to the front of the car, where we saw the first of the AFEELA’s neat features: a customizable front “media bar” which greeted us for our tour.
This feature is currently controlled by a phone app for demo purposes, and responded quickly as our guide swiped through various display possibilities. These included various themes, a battery display to check your charge level, or messages that could be relevant while driving (e.g. flashing “WARNING” when hazard lights are active).
Heading into the car, the doors are intended to have facial recognition (or perhaps were opened by our tour guide furtively pressing a button on his phone app) and are auto-opening and closing, though there is also a small button at the edge of the door that we could use to open it.
From the driver’s seat, the cockpit view is pretty satisfying. Visibility felt good and the cabin is quite spacious. The yoke steering wheel – which may or may not be standard or an option, SHM hasn’t decided yet – does offer a nice clear view of the instrument cluster. And it may use steer by wire, though that again has not yet been decided.
The giant wraparound screen offers important instruments in front of the driver (along with a HUD, which wasn’t activated for the demo), and a wide screen for nav or entertainment in the center and in front of the passenger.
Various apps can be brought up on the screen, and swiped between middle-screen and passenger-side (whether or how they’ll be active while the car is in motion is still being investigated), and themes are customizable and can affect the car’s ambient lighting, exterior media bar, and even motor sounds (and in my opinion, they better let us turn them off).
The side portions of the screen are for digital side mirrors, though the car is also expected to come with physical side mirrors as US regulators do not allow all-digital mirrors yet. The rear-view mirror is a hybrid optical/digital mirror, but wasn’t active in the prototype.
Many of the apps were not active in the tech demo, but we got a general sense of the snappiness and design of this (albeit restricted) version of the UI. And, like we’ve seen from many of the “EV startup” companies, it worked a lot better than what you generally expect out of traditional automaker UIs. Chalk one up to Sony’s software expertise here, they are clearly taking the lead on the in-car experience parts of this joint venture (and plan to offer over-the-air updates, something that is very popular among Tesla/Rivian owners, that traditional automakers are slowly getting around to implementing).
We got a short chance to demo playing Horizon Zero Dawn: Forbidden West in the car, but given how wide and short the screen is, the window was quite small. Maybe it would look better on the back seat screens.
And, it doesn’t actually run on the in-car system – we were using the PlayStation 5’s “remote play” feature, which lets you stream gameplay over the internet from a PS5 connected somewhere off-site. This adds latency depending on your distance from servers and your connection type (i.e., mobile data, from a car), so it’s not great for games with quick action or reaction times, but could work for e.g. story and puzzle games (there also seemed to be some additional latency/bluetooth interference when holding the controller in a lower position, but again, prototype).
That said, one weird thing about the in-car experience is that it was really hot in there. As soon as we closed the doors, it felt like the heater was on, and the touchscreen was also quite warm to the touch. It’s clear that Sony has packed some serious computing power in the vehicle, and that computer seems to have been really pumping out the processor cycles to ensure the best UI demo. Heat management is still on the to-do list.
Moving to the back seat, each seat has a large screen for the rear passengers, which will eventually offer various features, but as-is only showed us a static image of a map (very useful for backseat drivers) and a button to bring up an app-switcher with several inactive apps. You’ll eventually be able to use it for games, music, movies, climate control functions and so on.
Back seat space was quite good, with exceptional legroom and just-about adequate headroom. With the front seat set to a comfortable position for a 6′ driver, I still had a good ~5 inches of knee room, suggesting that legroom won’t be a problem in the vehicle. Headroom isn’t quite as expansive, but was still fine for someone like myself who is prone to slouching. And our tour guide was about ~6’3″ and seemed to fit alright, as you can see in this video.
We didn’t get to see in the trunk, or under the hood (frunk?), or in the charge ports – which are on both sides of the vehicle, but we don’t know if they’ll use NACS or not (but they had better, considering literally everyone else will soon).
The AFEELA will have a full suite of sensing abilities for safety and driver assistance, with the goal of achieving “level 2+ or level 3” autonomy, according to the reps we talked to (though previously SHM has said level 3/4). The difference between levels 2 and 3 is quite significant, though – the only level 3 system on (some) US roads currently is Mercedes DRIVE PILOT, and the big jump here is that level 3 systems can take responsibility for the driving task in certain situations, whereas level 2 cars are always the responsibility of a human driver.
So not only is there a big step between those two, but there’s a lot of variation within level 2 systems. SHM says that it will utilize machine learning to develop its autonomous software – which is a bit of a nod to that AI buzzword it dropped a lot at CES this year, but which is indeed an effective way to develop autonomous software.
That said, currently, even with the newest “mind-blowing” version of FSD, Teslas are still level 2 vehicles that require human drivers. And Tesla has a lot more driving data to comb through with its machine learning algorithms (which it only recently started doing with FSD v12) than SHM (or anyone) has. So we think it’s ambitious to suggest the AFEELA will be level 3 capable anywhere near its 2026 release target.
But – SHM does have more sensors than Tesla does. Tesla has waffled between using vision-only, vision-plus-radar, and vision/radar/ultrasonics systems, but AFEELA uses all of those plus LiDAR – complete with a LiDAR “taxi bump” above the windshield.
And SHM does have Honda behind it, which means that all of these in-car experiences that Sony showed off will be paired with Honda’s global-scale manufacturing and distribution network. The plan is to build the car in Ohio (which means potential US tax credit availability, though SHM hasn’t announced a battery supplier yet – though Honda is co-invested in an Ohio facility with LG), though Sony would like to establish direct customer relationships rather than going through dealers. That decision is still somewhat up in the air, though – either option has its positives and negatives.
Now – as I’ve mentioned many times, and as SHM told me many times, this was more of a tech demo than anything. We asked SHM a lot of questions about what will happen with this car, and they couldn’t really answer many of them (including no comment on the SUV variant). There are a lot of decisions still to be made – or at least, that have not yet been publicized – in the next 2 years before this car hits the road. As you’ve probably noticed throughout the above text.
The sheer scale of the decisions that still need to be made does make us question whether 2026 is still in the cards. Sony has been working on this car for a long time now – since before 2020 – so 2026 isn’t an unreasonable timeline in that respect. And I’ve long been impressed by the gradual nature of Sony’s, and now SHM’s, reveals about this vehicle. They’re not promising the world or anything too unrealistic (well, until this last CES – it got too buzzwordy, with AI and AR and what-have-you), now they just have to execute on what have mostly been realistic goals.
But there’s still a whole lot to do, or at least a whole lot to announce, before we get there. And they’ve said they plan to take preorders in the US starting first half of 2025, so that’s only a year away.
It feels like a daunting task – but unlike other “EV startups,” this one is funded by two of the largest companies in Japan who have tons of experience both in software/UX and auto manufacturing (though perhaps not much in EV manufacturing, yet). So it’s a little different than evaluating a prototype of a starting-from-scratch EV startup. They’ve certainly got the resources to bring this over the line, and we’re excited to see what it looks like when they do.
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Forget fumbling with cables or hunting for batteries – TILER is making electric bike charging as seamless as parking your ride. The Dutch startup recently introduced its much-anticipated TILER Compact system, a plug-and-play wireless charger engineered to transform the user experience for e-bike riders.
At the heart of the new system is a clever combo: a charging kickstand that mounts directly to almost any e‑bike, and a thin charging mat that you simply park over. Once you drop the kickstand and it lands on the mat, the bike begins charging automatically via inductive transfer – no cable required. According to TILER, a 500 Wh battery will fully charge in about 3.5 hours, delivering comparable performance to traditional wired chargers.
It’s an elegantly simple concept (albeit a bit chunky) with a convenient upside: less clutter, fewer broken cables, and no more need to bend over while feeling around for a dark little hole.
TILER claims its system works with about 75% of existing e‑bike platforms, including those from Bosch, Yamaha, Bafang, and other big bames. The kit uses a modest 150 W wireless power output, which means charging speeds remain practical while keeping the system lightweight (the tile weighs just 2 kg, and it’s also stationary).
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TILER has already deployed over 200 charging points across Western Europe, primarily serving bike-share, delivery, hospitality, and hotel fleets. A recent case study in Munich showed how a cargo-bike operator saved approximately €1,250 per month in labor costs, avoided thousands in spare batteries, and cut battery damage by 20%. The takeaway? Less maintenance, more uptime.
Now shifting to prosumer markets, TILER says the Compact system will hit pre-orders soon, with a €250 price tag (roughly US $290) for the kickstand plus tile bundle. To get in line, a €29 refundable deposit is currently required, though they say it is refundable at any point until you receive your charger. Don’t get too excited just yet though, there’s a bit of a wait. Deliveries are expected in summer 2026, and for now are covering mostly European markets.
The concept isn’t entirely new. We’ve seen the idea pop up before, including in a patent from BMW for charging electric motorcycles. And the efficacy is there. Skeptics may wonder if wireless charging is slower or less efficient, but TILER says no. Its system retains over 85% efficiency, nearly matching wired charging speeds, and even pauses at 80% to protect battery health, then resumes as needed. The tile is even IP67-rated, safe for outdoor use, and about as bulky as a thick magazine.
Electrek’s Take
I love the concept. It makes perfect sense for shared e-bikes, especially since they’re often returning to a dock anyway. As long as people can be trained to park with the kickstand on the tile, it seems like a no-brainer.
And to be honest, I even like the idea for consumers. I know it sounds like a first-world problem, but bending over to plug something in at floor height is pretty annoying, not to mention a great way to throw out your back if you’re not exactly a spring chicken anymore. Having your e-bike start charging simply by parking it in the right place is a really cool feature! I don’t know if it’s $300 cool, but it’s pretty cool!
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Tesla has launched a new software update for its vehicles that includes the anticipated integration of Grok, but it doesnt even interface with the car yet.
Today, Tesla started pushing the update to the fleet, but there’s a significant caveat.
The automaker wrote in the release notes (2025.26):
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Grok (Beta) (US, AMD)
Grok now available directly in your Tesla
Requires Premium Connectivity or a WiFi connection
Grok is currently in Beta & does not issue commands to your car – existing voice commands remain unchanged.
First off, it is only available in vehicles in the US equipped with the AMD infotainment computer, which means cars produced since mid-2021.
But more importantly, Tesla says that it doesn’t send commands to the car under the current version. Therefore, it is simply like having Grok on your phone, but on the onboard computer instead.
Tesla showed an example:
There are a few other features in the 2025.26 software update, but they are not major.
For Tesla vehicles equipped with ambient lighting strips inside the car, the light strip can now sync to music:
Accent lights now respond to music & you can also choose to match the lights to the album’s color for a more immersive effect
Toybox > Light Sync
Here’s the new setting:
The audio setting can now be saved under multiple presets to match listening preferences for different people or circumstances:
The software update also includes the capacity to zoom or adjust the playback speed of the Dashcam Viewer.
Cybertruck also gets the updated Dashcam Viewer app with a grid view for easier access and review of recordings:
Tesla also updated the charging info in its navigation system to be able to search which locations require valet service or pay-to-park access.
Upon arrival, drivers will receive a notification with access codes, parking restrictions, level or floor information, and restroom availability:
Finally, there’s a new onboarding guide directly on the center display to help people who are experiencing a Tesla vehicle for the first time.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla is really playing catch-up here. Right now, this update is essentially nothing. If you already have Grok, it’s no more different than having it on your phone or through the vehicle’s browser, since it has no capacity to interact with any function inside the vehicle.
Most other automakers are integrating LLMs inside vehicles with the capacity to interact with the vehicle. In China, this is becoming standard even in entry-level cars.
In the Xiaomi YU7, the vehicle’s AI can not only interact with the car, but it also sees what the car sees through its camera, and it can tell you about what it sees:
Tesla is clearly far behind on that front as many automakers are integrating with other LLMs like ChatGPT and in-house LLMs, like Xiaomi’s.
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Robinhood stock hit an all-time high Friday as the financial services platform continued to rip higher this year, along with bitcoin and other crypto stocks.
Robinhood, up more than 160% in 2025, hit an intraday high above $101 before pulling back and closing slightly lower.
The reversal came after a Bloomberg report that JPMorgan plans to start charging fintechs for access to customer bank data, a move that could raise costs across the industry.
For fintech firms that rely on thin margins to offer free or low-cost services to customers, even slight disruptions to their cost structure can have major ripple effects. PayPal and Affirm both ended the day nearly 6% lower following the report.
Despite its stellar year, the online broker is facing several headwinds, with a regulatory probe in Florida, pushback over new staking fees and growing friction with one of the world’s most high-profile artificial intelligence companies.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a formal investigation into Robinhood Crypto on Thursday, alleging the platform misled users by claiming to offer the lowest-cost crypto trading.
“Robinhood has long claimed to be the best bargain, but we believe those representations were deceptive,” Uthmeier said in a statement.
The probe centers on Robinhood’s use of payment for order flow — a common practice where market makers pay to execute trades — which the AG said can result in worse pricing for customers.
Robinhood Crypto General Counsel Lucas Moskowitz told CNBC its disclosures are “best-in-class” and that it delivers the lowest average cost.
“We disclose pricing information to customers during the lifecycle of a trade that clearly outlines the spread or the fees associated with the transaction, and the revenue Robinhood receives,” added Moskowitz.
Robinhood is also facing opposition to a new 25% cut of staking rewards for U.S. users, set to begin October 1. In Europe, the platform will take a smaller 15% cut.
Staking allows crypto holders to earn yield by locking up their tokens to help secure blockchain networks like ethereum, but platforms often take a percentage of those rewards as commission.
Robinhood’s 25% cut puts it in line with Coinbase, which charges between 25.25% and 35% depending on the token. The cut is notably higher than Gemini’s flat 15% fee.
It marks a shift for the company, which had previously steered clear of staking amid regulatory uncertainty.
Under President Joe Biden‘s administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission cracked down on U.S. platforms offering staking services, arguing they constituted unregistered securities.
With President Donald Trump in the White House, the agency has reversed course on several crypto enforcement actions, dropping cases against major players like Coinbase and Binance and signaling a more permissive stance.
Even as enforcement actions ease, Robinhood is under fresh scrutiny for its tokenized stock push, which is a growing part of its international strategy.
The company now offers blockchain-based assets in Europe that give users synthetic exposure to private firms like OpenAI and SpaceX through special purpose vehicles, or SPVs.
An SPV is a separate entity that acquires shares in a company. Users then buy tokens of the SPV and don’t have shareholder privileges or voting rights directly in the company.
OpenAI has publicly objected, warning the tokens do not represent real equity and were issued without its approval. In an interview with CNBC International, CEO Vlad Tenev acknowledged the tokens aren’t technically equity shares, but said that misses the broader point.
“What’s important is that retail customers have an opportunity to get exposure to this asset,” he said, pointing to the disruptive nature of AI and the historically limited access to pre-IPO companies.
“It is true that these are not technically equity,” Tenev added, noting that institutional investors often gain similar exposure through structured financial instruments.
The Bank of Lithuania — Robinhood’s lead regulator in the EU — told CNBC on Monday that it is “awaiting clarifications” following OpenAI’s statement.
“Only after receiving and evaluating this information will we be able to assess the legality and compliance of these specific instruments,” a spokesperson said, adding that information for investors must be “clear, fair, and non-misleading.”
Tenev responded that Robinhood is “happy to continue to answer questions from our regulators,” and said the company built its tokenized stock program to withstand scrutiny.
“Since this is a new thing, regulators are going to want to look at it,” he said. “And we expect to be scrutinized as a large, innovative player in this space.”
SEC Chair Paul Atkins recently called the model “an innovation” on CNBC’s Squawk Box, offering some validation as Robinhood leans further into its synthetic equity strategy — even as legal clarity remains in flux across jurisdictions.
Despite the regulatory noise, many investors remain focused on Robinhood’s upside, and particularly the political tailwinds.
The company is positioning itself as a key beneficiary of Trump’s newly signed megabill, which includes $1,000 government-seeded investment accounts for newborns. Robinhood said it’s already prototyping an app for the ‘Trump Accounts‘ initiative.