Honda launches the next generation Honda SENSING with Level 3 driving features

Honda has announced the release of the Honda Legend EX equipped with Honda SENSING Elite in Japan.

Striving to realise a collision-free society based on its global safety slogan, 'Safety for Everyone', Honda has long been at the forefront of the research and development of safety technologies. The introduction of the Legend equipped with Honda SENSING Elite represents the next step forward in the area of advanced safety technology.

Honda SENSING Elite is a variation of Honda SENSING, a suite of advanced safety and driver-assistive technologies currently available on Honda vehicles around the world. The name 'Elite' represents the outstanding and 'elite' technologies included in this latest variation.

One of the 'elite' technologies featured is the Traffic Jam Pilot' function, an advanced technology qualifying for Level 3 automated driving, for which Honda has received type designation from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Traffic Jam Pilot technology enables the automated driving system to drive the vehicle, instead of the driver, under certain conditions such as in congested traffic on an expressway.

For vehicle control, the system determines the position of the vehicle and road conditions using data from three-dimensional high-definition maps and the global navigation satellite system, while detecting the vehicle's surroundings using several external sensors that provide 360-degree input.

At the same time, the system tracks the condition of the driver using a monitoring camera mounted inside the vehicle. Based on this wide range of information, the main electronic control unit recognises current conditions, anticipates future conditions and applies a high-level of control to acceleration, braking and steering inputs to assist the driver and achieve high-quality and smooth driving.

Placing the highest priority on safety and reliability, approximately 10 million patterns of possible real-world situations were simulated during system development, and real-world demonstration tests were conducted on expressways for a total of approximately 1.3 million kilometres. Moreover, the system incorporates a redundant system design to ensure safety and reliability in the event of a problem with any of the devices.

Interior equipment exclusive to this model includes Honda SENSING Elite indicator lights, which feature carefully selected and visible positions, sizes, colours, brightness and other details, as well as a 12.3-inch full-LCD graphic meter. This equipment was adopted to provide an intuitive understanding of system operation status, current driving situation and any requests to transfer control back to the driver.