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CES 2026: Sony Honda Mobility drives out Afeela SDV prototype | Computer Weekly

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CES 2026: Sony Honda Mobility drives out Afeela SDV prototype | Computer Weekly


Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) presented a pre-production model of its Afeela 1 vehicle (pictured above) and debuted a new prototype, the Afeela Prototype 2026, at the CES 2026 technology show.

Established by Sony Group Corporation and Honda Motor Co in 2022, joint venture mobility tech company SHM combines Sony’s technological consumer electronics legacy and Honda’s automotive expertise. Its mission is to lead innovation in the industry through joint development and sales of high-value-added mobility and to provide mobility services.

SHM said Afeela represents “the fusion of intelligence and emotion in motion”, with mobility that senses the driver and that the driver can feel. It added that at its core, Afeela “brings to life a next-generation driving experience built on advanced sensing, interactive technology and human-centred design”.

At CES 2026, in addition to presenting the new vehicle, SHM confirmed the adoption of solutions from Qualcomm Technologies’ Snapdragon Digital Chassis within SHM’s next-generation electrical/electronic architecture and the implementation of the Afeela Co-Creation Programme to provide creators with access to development documentation for Afeela in-vehicle entertainment content. It also announced the development of a new open, on-chain mobility service platform using a token-based incentive model.

SHM said it has been continuously enhancing its advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), Afeela Intelligent Drive, while evolving it into an end-to-end AI model that integrates Vision-Language Model (VLM). Starting with Level 2+ driver assistance that supports travel from the departure point to the destination, the company aims to achieve Level 4-equivalent capabilities in the future, transforming the in-vehicle space into a “drive-less” environment.

The Afeela Personal Agent, an interactive conversational artificial intelligence (AI) agent, uses Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to deliver highly personalised, natural dialogue experiences tailored to individual users, making the relationship between people and mobility more personal.

The Afeela Co-Creation Program will see SHM collaborate with creators and developers to expand the possibilities of mobility by providing access to information necessary for developing in-vehicle entertainment, including in-car themes and apps. The company is also building cloud application programming interfaces (APIs) and the development environment for Android applications on in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) to enable developers to create entirely new mobility applications that will further transform the in-cabin experience.

Kicking off the CES launch, Izumi Kawanishi, representative director, president and chief operating officer of SHM, presented the new car under the theme “mobility as a creative entertainment space”, affirming the company’s long-term technology vision of how partnerships across technology, entertainment and creation are shaping its roadmap.

We are bringing innovation to how people move. Being in a car will no longer be about driving – it will be about making the most of your time and space
Izumi Kawanishi, Sony Honda Mobility

“In the three years since we established Sony Honda Mobility, the automotive industry has seen diverse evolution and growth, and at SHM, we are evolving mobility into an interactive experience. Our brand, Afeela, is built on the vision to redefine the relationship between people and mobility,” he said.

“We are bringing innovation to how people move. Being in a car will no longer be about driving – it will be about making the most of your time and space while your car understands the passenger preferences and feelings. The relationship will become an interactive dialogue,” he added.

Kawanishi stressed that the key to realising mobility as a creative entertainment space would be in harnessing the power of AI, specifically advanced vehicle AI, which will deliver user experiences and two-way communication that goes beyond the traditional mode of interfacing while in the autonomous driving domain. This, he argued, would allow SHM to create experiences that “truly foster a more symbiotic relationship with the driver”.

“We are advancing the development of our intelligent drive [model] … constantly reviewing setting devices in the [software] layer, further improving computing power and making our end-to-end driving AI stronger. As a result, the cabin will evolve into a driverless environment, reducing the task of manual driving and providing more freedom to relax and enjoy the entertainment,” he said.

“Our conversational agent enhances mobility interaction through personalised natural language dialogue. This elevates the relationship between people and mobility into something more awesome and long-lasting. In other words, mobility will [create] experiences that understand every user.”

Kawanishi expressed confidence that by maximising the cabin space, Afeela could challenge the traditional concepts of in-car entertainment, creating and supporting content through panoramic screens, dynamic wallpaper, a rich instrument cluster and entertainment systems to transform the very experience of mobility into a “richer, more enjoyable time”.

Notably, SHM is drawing on Sony’s PlayStation division to support gaming within Afeela, with the ability to use Sony Remote Play to stream games from a PlayStation console within a car for the first time through the Afeela entertainment system.

“Afeela becomes another way you can pick up and play the games you love, just like every other remote play experience,” said Sony Interactive Entertainment’s business and product senior vice-president, Eric Lempel.

“This is the console … for those moments when you have some downtime in your car, like when you’re waiting to pick someone up, or if you want to keep passengers entertained on a very long road trip. For us, this is a meaningful example of how the PlayStation experience can extend beyond the living room in ways that feel natural and useful for gaming fans.”

Commenting on what he believes his company could contribute to the Afeela environment, Nakul Duggal, automotive and industrial and embedded internet of things executive vice-president and group general manager at Qualcomm Technologies, remarked that, in his opinion, Afeela represented “a bold step forward in redefining mobility”, and that going forward, Qualcomm had the simple expectation that Afeela would set a new benchmark for what an intelligent car could be “where technology elevates every moment of the drive”.

He added: “Our collaboration with Sony Honda Mobility reflects a shared vision. Together, we are building not just technology, we are creating smarter, safer and more engaging journeys … The car becomes a dynamic digital space with tailored content, natural interactions and seamless integration across devices, advanced travel assistance systems designed for safety and automation, combining high performance, efficiency and AI-driven intelligence to enable smooth, confident driving and a comprehensive, cloud-connected architecture that ensures vehicles stay updated, secure and always connected. AI has become a foundational element, from adaptive in-cabin systems that learn driver preferences to safety and automation through ADAS.”

The first production model, Afeela 1, is scheduled for deliveries in California by late 2026, with expansion to Arizona planned in 2027. CES also saw the world premiere of the Afeela Prototype 2026 vehicle, for which the US market launch of a production model is expected by 2028. This latter car builds on the core concept of Afeela 1 while offering greater spatial flexibility and accessibility.



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The Oceans Just Keep Getting Hotter

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The Oceans Just Keep Getting Hotter


Since 2018, a group of researchers from around the world have crunched the numbers on how much heat the world’s oceans are absorbing each year. In 2025, their measurements broke records once again, making this the eighth year in a row that the world’s oceans have absorbed more heat than the years before.

The study, which was published Friday in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Science, found that the world’s oceans absorbed an additional 23 zettajoules’ worth of heat in 2025, the most in any year since modern measurements began in the 1960s. That’s significantly higher than the 16 additional zettajoules they absorbed in 2024. The research comes from a team of more than 50 scientists across the United States, Europe, and China.

A joule is a common way to measure energy. A single joule is a relatively small unit of measurement—it’s about enough to power a tiny lightbulb for a second, or slightly heat a gram of water. But a zettajoule is one sextillion joules; numerically, the 23 zettajoules the oceans absorbed this year can be written out as 23,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

John Abraham, a professor of thermal science at the University of St. Thomas and one of the authors on the paper, says that he sometimes has trouble putting this number into contexts laypeople understand. Abraham offers up a couple options. His favorite is comparing the energy stored in the ocean to the energy of atomic bombs: The 2025 warming, he says, is the energetic equivalent to 12 Hiroshima bombs exploding in the ocean. (Some other calculations he’s done include equating this number to the energy it would take to boil 2 billion Olympic swimming pools, or more than 200 times the electrical use of everyone on the planet.)

“Last year was a bonkers, crazy warming year—that’s the technical term,” Abraham joked to me. “The peer-reviewed scientific term is ‘bonkers’.”

The world’s oceans are its largest heat sink, absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess warming that is trapped in the atmosphere. While some of the excess heat warms the ocean’s surface, it also slowly travels further down into deeper parts of the ocean, aided by circulation and currents.

Global temperature calculations—like the ones used to determine the hottest years on record—usually only capture measurements taken at the ocean’s surface. (The study finds that overall sea surface temperatures in 2025 were slightly lower than they were in 2024, which is on record as the hottest year since modern records began. Some meteorological phenomena, like El Niño events, can also raise sea surface temperatures in certain regions, which can cause the overall ocean to absorb slightly less heat in a given year. This helps to explain why there was such a big jump in added ocean heat content between 2025, which developed a weak La Niña at the end of the year, and 2024, which came at the end of a strong El Niño year.) While sea surface temperatures have risen since the industrial revolution, thanks to our use of fossil fuels, these measurements don’t provide a full picture of how climate change is affecting the oceans.

“If the whole world was covered by a shallow ocean that was only a couple feet deep, it would warm up more or less at the same speed as the land,” says Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth and a coauthor of the study. “But because so much of that heat is going down in the deep ocean, we see generally slower warming of sea surface temperatures [than those on land].”



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Skullcandy Headphone Deals: Crusher Evo, ANC 2, PLYR 720 and More

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Skullcandy Headphone Deals: Crusher Evo, ANC 2, PLYR 720 and More


Skullcandy headphones aren’t always the sharpest tools in the proverbial shed, but they do have cool looks and have affordable price tags, and that gets even better with these Skullcandy promo codes on a few of the brand’s top products. If you’re after a pair of in-ear, open-ear, or over-ear headphones, Skullcandy has cut prices on several of its headphones, making now a decent time to buy. Plus, make sure you check out our Skullcandy coupons above for even more savings.

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Open earbuds are a great way to hear the world around you while also tuning into your favorite music, audiobook, or podcast. We really like using them when working out in nature or working in the yard, where hearing someone honk or yell at you can be helpful. Skullcandy Push 720 Open Earbuds are 35% off right now; so if you’ve been curious about open earbuds, now’s a great time to buy.

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The Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 are over-ear headphones that come with a leopard print finish, which should appeal to anyone who is tired of boring black over-ear headphones. They also have active noise canceling, which should help tune out any errant roars. They are on sale for a limited time, at 36% off.

Take Your Gaming to the Next Level With Crusher PLYR 720 Headphones

Folks who want a gaming headset will be happy with the swivel-based mic on the Crusher Plyr 720 (now on discount at 33% off) allowing them to easily chat with friends and foes during tense online gaming sessions.

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ICE Agent Who Reportedly Shot Renee Good Was a Firearms Trainer, Per Testimony

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ICE Agent Who Reportedly Shot Renee Good Was a Firearms Trainer, Per Testimony


Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer identified by multiple news outlets as the federal agent who shot 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday, is a veteran deportation officer in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, according to sworn testimony from the federal district court in Minnesota obtained by WIRED. A member of a Special Response Team, ICE’s version of a SWAT team, he’s had duties as a firearms trainer and led teams drawn from multiple federal agencies including the FBI, Ross testified.

The testimony stems from a December 2025 trial related to a June incident with parallels to the interaction that led to Good’s killing.

In June according to Ross’s testimony, he led a team seeking to apprehend a man named Roberto Carlos Muñoz-Guatemala, who was on an administrative warrant for being in the United States without authorization. Because the man’s home was across from a school and immigration agents had no authority to enter his home, Ross testified, they instead trailed him in unmarked vehicles.

Muñoz-Guatemala’s attorney did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

According to the December testimony and a New York Times account of an FBI agent’s affidavit associated with the case, Ross approached Muñoz-Guatemala and asked him to roll down his window and open his door. Ross, who testified that he had been driving an unmarked vehicle, was dressed in ranger green and grey, and wore his badge on his belt, broke the driver’s side back window and reached into the vehicle, at which point Muñoz-Guatemala pulled away.

While being dragged at a speed he claimed seemed like “40 miles an hour at least, if not more,” Ross pulled out his Taser and fired it at the driver. Muñoz-Guatemala continued to drive, and succeeded in shaking Ross from the car. At trial, Ross testified that he suffered injuries that required 33 stitches.

According to the affidavit, Muñoz-Guatemala called 911 to report that he’d been assaulted by ICE, which led to his arrest. Last month, he was convicted of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.

Reports from the Minnesota Star-Tribune and The Guardian identified Ross as the shooter who killed Good, a mother and recent transplant to Minneapolis, during an immigration enforcement action in the city. Video of the incident appears to show a federal agent firing shots into Good’s vehicle as she attempted to leave the scene. The officer did not appear to have been struck by the vehicle, and Good appeared to be turning the wheel to avoid contact, video analysis by The New York Times and the Washington Post shows.

At Thursday’s White House press briefing, vice president JD Vance answered questions about the incident, and his responses included numerous identifying details about Ross, mainly relating to his interaction with Muñoz-Guatemala. “That very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car, six months ago, 33 stitches in his leg,” said Vance, “so you think maybe he is a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?”

Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirsti Noem has repeatedly described Good’s actions as an intentional act of “domestic terrorism.” An FBI investigation into Good’s killing is ongoing.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told WIRED in a statement that the department is “not going to expose the name of this officer. He acted according to his training.” McLaughlin added that federal immigration agents “are under constant threat from violent agitators” because of “doxxing” and that the Minnesota Star Tribune, which first published Ross’ name, “should delete their story immediately.”According to Ross’ December testimony, he served in the Indiana National Guard and was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 as a machine gunner on a patrol truck, then joined Border Patrol in 2007 after finishing college, working near El Paso, Texas.



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