Honda Motor is the first in the world to produce a production car with a level 3 autonomous driving system, it is developed in-house and is called the Honda Sensing Elite. It was received by the updated Honda Legend business class sedan. The presentation took place on March 4, sales start on the 5th. The novelty will first be available only in the domestic Japanese market.
The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Level 3 autonomous driving system is “conditional automation”. No immediate response is required from the driver. He can, for example, write messages or watch a movie. The system itself controls the car and even knows how to brake urgently. But the person needs to be willing to intervene within a limited amount of time, determined by the manufacturer. There are six autopilot classes in total (including zero).
So far, production cars have not been offered autonomous driving classes above the second (Tesla Autopilot, for example, is one of those).
Honda Sensing Elite determines the position of the car in space based on highly detailed 3D maps and satellite navigation readings. Numerous sensors and cameras scan the surrounding space 360 degrees around.
Honda Legend knows how to stay in the selected lane, change lanes, overtake, slow down and accelerate. In this case, the driver does not need to constantly keep his hands on the steering wheel, as is required in cars with simpler systems. Autopilot activation is shown on the head-up display. Also, the LED indication of the current mode is built into the steering wheel.
Recall that the current generation Honda Legend has been produced since 2015. In the US, the car is known as the Acura RLX.
In Japan, the price of a sedan with the new system starts at 11 million yen. The car is equipped with a hybrid installation based on a 3.5-liter gasoline engine, a robotic transmission and all-wheel drive. No other changes other than the introduction of the Honda Sensing Elite have been announced.
The updated Honda Legend sedan is the first in the world to receive a third-level autopilot
