Honda has flown below the radar in the self-driving car world, compared to manufacturers like Tesla and Ford.
This week, though, Honda announced its own ADAS suite that allows drivers to ride along with their hands off the wheel and their feet off the pedals, “as lane markings are visible and another vehicle is in front of the car”.
The requirement for another vehicle to be out front is particularly interesting. It may map to the US Army’s project of building self-driving truck convoys that can follow the truck ahead of them, with a human driver at the front of the line.
As manufacturers each launch their own ADAS systems, with different names and features, it’s increasingly difficult to keep track of who supports what. I’ll be curious to see whether this represents a big step into the self-driving car world for Honda, or just a natural addition of features that more or less match what competitors offer.
A big selling point for Honda is price, so maybe this represents the ability to mass product ADAS systems for $20,000 cars.
David Silver 