While South Dakotans might be a few years away from having autonomous driving features onboard their favorite Honda vehicle, the automaker has proudly launched its all-new Honda Sensing® Elite safety system in Japan, making their Honda Legend Hybrid the first production vehicle with Level 3 automated driving technology. Traffic Jam Pilot is a Honda Sensing Elite feature that received Level 3 clearance, allowing for conditional automated driving in a limited area. If you’d like to learn more about Honda’s autonomous driving features and the technologies that could be making their way to the United States in the near future, join Vern Eide Honda as we explore the Honda Sensing Elite safety system.
Further proving the slogan “Safety for Everyone” is more than just talk, Honda continues to pave the way when it comes to automotive safety with its newest version of Honda Sensing®. The original suite of advanced safety and driver-assist technologies can be found on nearly every new Honda vehicle in the United States and it includes features such as the Lane Keeping Assist System, Road Departure Mitigation System, Collision Mitigation Braking System, and Adaptive Cruise Control. But what can drivers expect from the all-new Honda Sensing Elite safety system?
In certain driving conditions, features like Lane Keeping Assist and Adaptive Cruise Control will actually assist with driving operations, even if your hands aren’t on the steering wheel. Included with Hands-Off Functionality are the following:
If the vehicle enters heavy traffic and Adaptive in Lane Driving is activated, Traffic Jam Pilot can take control of steering, braking, and acceleration during slow-speed driving conditions. The system will allow you to cruise, stop, and resume driving (with no driver input) in the same lane while keeping a proper following distance between you and the detected vehicles ahead.
Using indicator lights strategically placed on the navigation screen, steering wheel, and glovebox, the Human-Machine Interface (HMI) will keep you updated in real-time about the system’s status, your current driving situation, and any system requests that yield control back to you. With the Hands-Off Function turned on, the indicator lights will illuminate blue. If the system needs to surrender control back to the driver its indicator lights will change from blue to orange and the LCD meter will display the operating status, driving conditions, and handover request(s).
How much does Honda Sensing Elite cost? Well, it’s hard to say. The new Honda Legend Hybrid EX will be the automaker’s first vehicle to be equipped with the automated driving features and it’s priced at 11,000,000 yen (or approximately $100,838 U.S. dollars), but we don’t have an exact price for the Honda Sensing Elite safety system itself.
