CARY – Sony and Honda, which announced a joint venture last year to develop and build electric cars, have revealed the name of their new car brand. It will be called Afeela. And Cary-based Epic Games is playing a significant role in its futuristic features.

Inside, the company is working with Unreal Engine graphics technology from Epic, the company that produces Fortnite, to design interfaces for the vehicle.

Unreal Engine’s technology has also been used by other auto brands including General Motors, which used the technology in the Hummer EV. The car will come with a wealth of entertainment options, he said.

Epic also is working with Volvo.

“Volvo Cars is the first European carmaker to use the Unreal Engine for development of the Human Machine Interface (HMI),” Volvo announced last June. “More specifically, it will initially focus on the Driver Information Module (DIM), one of the displays inside the cabin that provide the driver with relevant information and infotainment features.”

When Epic and GM announced their joint efforts in Oct. 2020, Epic noted: “As we move towards level five vehicle autonomy, in-car infotainment systems will become more and more relevant to influencing consumer purchase decisions, and Unreal Engine will bring new levels of flexibility, interactivity and visual fidelity to these next generation systems.”

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At a presentation during the Consumer Electronics Show, Sony Honda Mobility chief executive Yasuhide Mizuno revealed a prototype of the company’s first car, which looked like a mid-sized sedan, but he disclosed little detail about it. The car will be available to order and even purchase in 2025, he said, but the first deliveries of the car would not take place in North America until 2026, he said. The car will be built at one of Honda’s factories.

“At the heart of this mobility experience is the word ‘feel,'” Mizuno said, explaining that focus will be on sensing and interacting with people.

The car will have safety and driver assistance systems from Honda along with entrainment and interactive features from Sony, Mizuno said. When developing the car, the emphasis has been on software and user interface technology as much as on driving dynamics and performance, he said.

Running above the car’s front bumper is a narrow exterior display screen the company calls the media bar. It will allow the vehicle to show information and interact with people outside the vehicle, Mizuno said.

Inside, the company is working with Unreal Engine graphics technology from Epic Games, the company that produces Fortnite, to design interfaces for the vehicle. Unreal Engine’s technology has also been used by other auto brands including General Motors, which used the technology in the Hummer EV. The car will come with a wealth of entertainment options, he said.

Mizuno also boasted of the 45 cameras and sensors inside and outside the vehicle, some of which are used to detect the condition of the driver to help ensure alertness and safety.

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