Honda goes Level 3 Autonomous

During an online press event, Honda’s Yoichi Sugimoto, head of Assistance Technology, announced that the new Honda Legend will come off the lines equipped with level 3 autonomous driving. It’s a first for Japanese OEMs, and amongst the first globally.

Limited Run

If you want to buy an autonomous Legend, you might have to hurry, as well as move to Japan. Only 100 units, at a pricing of about USD 100.000, will be equipped with Honda’s autonomous technology. The carmaker aims to test the tech, as well as its interaction with the driver. At the same time, Honda wants to demonstrate the potential of autonomous.

How it works

The best way to describe level 3 autonomous, is a “shift of responsibility from driver to car.” At speeds lower than 50 km/h, the car will take over from the driver, which means that it does more than just follow traffic and roads (level 2). The vehicle is in charge of going from point A to point B, and the driver intervenes only when the driving parameters change in such a way, that the algorithms conclude that a human needs to take over.

Public-Private collaboration

Japanese Government is keen to implement autonomous. Too many accidents happen because of driver’s stress or fatigue, and autonomous cars will be able to remediate or, at least, reduce the number of crashes. A legal framework has been introduced whereby the car, rather than its driver, can be responsible for the driving. It’s such regulations that block brands like Tesla to activate the full potential of its autonomous driving capabilities.

Picture Credit: Honda Newsroom