Honda wins world-first approval for Level 3 autonomous car

Well done Japan, well done Honda, beat TESLA to it! Unfortunately these Honda Legends will be very expensive. Hopefully within 1-2 years all cars in the Honda range will be Level 5 full autonomy.

capable of taking over driving in circumstances such as a busy highway

Wow. Does it have an feature?

an "I'm so important I can overtake everyone on the hard shoulder" feature?

My guess here is that this is not a case of Honda being ahead of other self-driving car producers.

The first is Japan's regulators letting them do this on actual public roads. The litigation and insurance issues must also have been solved.

Wins??? What kind of propaganda is this? The J gov will lower the standards at all costs to achieve their image. Just look at how they lowered the safety standards at Fukushima.

well done Honda, beat TESLA to it

Not sure if you realise it but level 3 seems pointless and will be short lived. Which is why Tesla has not gone for a lvl 3 autonomous vehicle and have gone straight for lvl 4 with the goal of reaching lvl 5 which they say they are very close to attaining.

You can't really say Honda beat Tesla when they aren't bothering to make a lvl 3 capable vehicle.

Good for them but it's going to be super overpriced and I suspect that it will be fairly dated in a few years. One is better off waiting for level 4 or 5. Reminds me of back in the early 1990s when a friend said he bought the new laser disc system and urged me to do the same but I was skeptical and waited. We all know how that went.

I’m very against them. Allowing them to drive on highways is the most pathetic idea you could imagine. Most cars drive at around 110-120km on Japanese highways.

Not only will they cause massive 27km traffic jams, but accidents at high speed are not very pretty. An who do you sue, the car or the sleeping human driver?

Well this is definitely a very good thing for Japan and Honda! And I didn’t realize that Tesla was foregoing a level three car, and was moving straight to level four. That’s a very good point, and it shows that Honda didn’t technically beat Tesla to level three. Since Tesla was not competing for that anyway, as one of you said.

I'm not sure what is the difference between level 3 and 2, but my Nissan (2 years old) does drive by itself on the highway. It identifies the lanes (can't change lanes by itself), and runs at a preset speed, automatically adjusting the speed according to any vehicles in front. It is very convenient, especially for long drives

timeon

That's just radar cruise control and lane keeping. Radar cruise control has been an option on high end cars for about 20 years. My car is from 2003 and has it. My previous one only had regular CC, which cannot detect the car in front. Now I've tried the radar type, I do like it. My 2003 car will detect lane markings but will only buzz and not correct the steering.

kohakuebisu, that's what I don't understand, what is the difference with level 3?

Not surprising,after all Japan have always been a leader in robotic and tech innovation.

These are the good and virtuous aspect of a country that can give soo much to the world.

Good luck controlling and manoevering a car down the narrow roads and even narrower streets that comprise much of Japan's national infrastructure; weaving around illegally parked cars with their hazard lights flashing, taxis and delivery trucks, and cyclists riding on the wrong side of the road - a common practice for mothers and their children.

As mentioned earlier, this is a very important statement of intent by J Gov. in supporting Japan, Inc.

BTW, weren't driverless taxis to be available to wow visitors to the 2020 Olympics?

The litigation and insurance issues must also have been solved.

Japan's not a litigious society, and anyone who's made an insurance claim here knows how counterintuitive that can be, too.

These are the good and virtuous aspect of a country that can give soo much to the world

Unlike Honda's historical innovation - all wheel steering on Accords, for example - the tech on this is largely digital tweaks of non-proprietary technology that enjoys huge economies of scale. Perhaps they can bring us an autonomous, all-electric Fit/Jazz/Life soon?

Play with whatever toy you like, but as for me always preferably would be a level0-2 Hummer or Jeep or similar, that doesn’t need and doesn’t need to care for any road signs or lanes or crowded highways and only works together with an awaken and self-driving me as a unit. lol

soon all we will need is AI-enhanced us-clones to sit in the cars and go driving on our behalf while the lucky punters stay home in their 1dk with AI-powered virtual headsets, order stuff online, work out in a virtual gym, breath 'purified' air, and watch our minority-of-one virtual avatar enjoy AI-generated beach/mountains/Disneyworld/unspoiled hilltribes or whatever.... and no risk from the Covid plague.... magic!!!!!

Nobody wants what is a halfway solution and hard to trust in non routine driving circumstances.

lot of work, money for nothing. Let’s see how many they sell.

Honda would not be making a first of anything but once the Americans or Europeans make one, Honda will improve it and make it more practical. Just like I had 2 nsx sports cars with 15 years in between. Best sports cars on the road, but they do not have the horse on the front. And since it is well known I am a snob...