Honda to provide confined batch of level 3 self-driving cars

TOKYO (Reuters) – Honda Motor Co Ltd on Thursday claimed it will market a minimal batch of its flagship Legend sedan equipped with stage 3 autonomous driving know-how that permits autos to navigate congested highways.

When the level 3 “Targeted traffic Jam Pilot” is activated, a driver can observe films or use the navigation on the display, assisting to mitigate fatigue and anxiety when driving in a targeted traffic jam, Honda mentioned in a assertion.

The Japanese automaker’s system to promote 100 of the vehicles with the state-of-the-art technological know-how would depict a major move towards its objective of staying the initially corporation to mass produce a car with degree 3 technologies.

The Legend’s “Traffic Jam Pilot” program can handle acceleration, braking and steering underneath certain ailments.

It can also notify the driver to react when handing around the handle, this sort of as vibration on the driver’s seatbelt, Honda reported. And if the driver carries on to be unresponsive, the technique will assist with an unexpected emergency prevent by decelerating and stopping the car whilst alerting encompassing vehicles with hazard lights and the horn, it included.

The announcement comes right after the Japanese government awarded a safety certification to Honda’s “Visitors Jam Pilot” in November.

Worldwide automakers and tech firms, like Google mum or dad Alphabet Inc’s Waymo and Tesla Inc, have been investing heavily in autonomous driving.

Nonetheless even as the technological know-how improvements, regulations on autonomous driving vary from state to nation. Audi unveiled an A8 sedan with stage 3 technologies in 2017 but regulatory hurdles have prevented it from becoming broadly introduced.

The limited edition Legend will be offered from Friday in Japan at a retail price of 11 million yen ($103,000), Honda mentioned.

The automaker has no designs to maximize production or gross sales of a level 3-geared up Legend for now, its working officer advised reporters on Thursday.

($1 = 107.0500 yen)

(Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu Editing by Shri Navaratnam)