索尼计划最早2027财年推出车载AI角色代理Wichef

TOKYO -- Sony Group plans to offer an in-car artificial intelligence agent featuring an original character as early as fiscal 2027, aiming to carve out a position in the emerging market for in-vehicle entertainment amid the transition to autonomous driving.
Sony has created Wichef, an original rabbit-sheep character specifically for AI applications. Displayed on an in-car screen, Wichef will serve as a conversational companion for drivers. The company is exploring a wide range of uses for the conversational AI, including navigation assistance, casual conversation and acting as a brainstorming partner.
The company envisions a business model in which automakers pay licensing fees for the service. Separate charges would apply for the character and the AI agent itself. The technology is intended not only for privately owned vehicles, but also for rental cars, buses, trains and other forms of transportation.
Wischef will remain connected with users when they are outside their vehicles via smartphone app and other means, acting as a personalized companion that learns the owner's habits, preferences and daily routines to provide tailored support.
The more time an AI agent spends with the user, the more help it can be. Wichef's approachable design aims to feel less like a machine and more like a trusted partner. Voice data recorded in advance by professional voice actors will be used to give the character a more familiar and engaging presence.
Sony selected a cute design to appeal particularly to women and younger people. To avoid the complexities of rights clearance, it created an original character instead of licensing an existing intellectual property franchise.
Many in-car AI assistants rely on such large-language-model-powered chatbots as Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT. Concluding that it would be difficult to differentiate itself through AI capabilities alone, Sony is betting that a unique character can provide a competitive advantage.
The global market for in-vehicle AI assistants will reach $19.8 billion in 2034, according to Indian research firm Fortune Business Insights -- 4.7 times the 2025 level.
Sony had been planning to release electric vehicles under the Afeela brand in a joint venture with Honda Motor, an effort that would have included a new character that moved in sync with the vehicles. The two companies canceled the release of the EVs in March, with Honda announcing the following month that it would scale down its EV plans.
Now Sony is pressing ahead on its own with efforts to foster a new market for in-cabin entertainment technologies.