June 13, 2017—At a media event last week, Honda shared more about its plans and set a target of 2025 for introducing vehicles with Level 4 autonomous driving capability, according to The Verge.
Honda has already said that it intends to have vehicles capable of Level 3 freeway driving on the market by 2020, and is reiterating that goal today. Level 3, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers, refers to highly automated driving where the driver still needs to be able to take over the vehicle upon request. Level 4 automation means that the car is capable of handing most driving situations itself, whereas Level 5 is largely theoretical and covers complete automation in any condition.
“We are striving to provide our customers with a sense of confidence and trust by offering automated driving that will keep vehicles away from any dangerous situation and that will not make people around the vehicle feel unsafe,” Honda president and CEO Takahiro Hachigo told reporters.
Hachigo made his remarks while outlining a broader vision for the company over the next 13 years; he also said Honda plans for various forms of electric vehicle to account for two-thirds of the company’s sales by 2030. And from this fall onward, following the launch of the new N-Box, all new Honda vehicles sold in Japan will come with Honda Sensing driver-assist features as standard.
