The Honda Legend, exclusive to the Japanese domestic market, is the world’s first car with level 3 autonomous-driving capability.
In Japan, Honda launched the world’s most advanced autonomous-driving system, featured on its new Honda Legend luxury sedan. Indeed, the Legend is the first production car capable of up to level 3 autonomous driving, meaning that it could self-drive without the need for the driver’s attention under limited situations.
The Legend’s semi-autonomous driving feature comes from Honda’s SENSING Elite suite consisting of several advanced driver-assist and safety features. The function responsible for making this car level 3 autonomous is ‘Traffic Jam Pilot,’ which essentially helps monitor real-world conditions. The feature allows the vehicle to drive on its own, without the driver’s intervention, in certain slow-speed driving conditions such as congested traffic. Moreover, using data from high-definition 3-D maps and GPS, the system detects the vehicle’s position and monitors its 360-degree surrounding. Interestingly, the system also features an in-built monitoring camera that tracks the driver’s condition.
Honda’s engineers simulated 1 million possible real-world patterns during the Traffic Jam Pilot development and tested the system for up to 1.3 million km (800,000 miles) on the expressway.
Other prominent features of the new Honda Legend are the advanced Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keeping Assist technologies. These functions allow the driver to keep his hands away from the steering wheel when driving on the highway. When the system is engaged, the Legend can automatically change lanes, give signals, pass other slow-moving cars and adjust the speed according to the traffic.
Although the autonomous system is completely safe, the driver needs to remain alert at all times. However, in that case, Honda employed an Emergency Stop function. Basically, this system activates automatically when the driver fails to respond to the handover requests. The system starts by sending a vibration through the seat belt to warn the driver. However, if the driver continues to ignore the warning, the system will stop the car safely and alert other surrounding vehicles with hazard lights and horn sounds.
Unfortunately, Honda will only sell the new Legend sedan in Japan and deliver only 100 units in the first batch. Pricing starts from ¥11 million ($101,000). It will compete against the Tesla Model 3, which has a similar autonomous feature.
