Here comes the car without the driver. Honda has announced that it will be showcasing several of its latest developments in intelligent transportation technology at the ongoing 2014 ITS World Congress in Detroit. The showcase covers Honda's industry-leading capabilities such as automated freeway merging, exiting and lane changing, which will be demonstrated on actual Detroit freeways, as well as a unique vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) "virtual tow" capability for assisting a driver in distress.
According to Honda, as part of its 'Safety for Everyone' concept, it is broadly deploying advanced driver-assist and early-stage automated driving technologies that help improve drivers' situational awareness, such as Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow, Collision Mitigation Braking System™ and Road Departure Mitigation.The company's newest offering, the 2015 Acura TLX performance luxury sedan, utilizes the cooperative sensing of monocular camera and millimeter wave radar systems to provide for higher fidelity road sensing and collision mitigation capabilities, including pedestrian detection, steering assist and autonomous emergency braking, said Honda.
Apart from the automated highway driving demonstation which will see driver-less Honda car making an 8-mile freeway loop in downtown Detroit, Honda will also be demonstrating the Vehicle-to-Pedestrian/Bicycle communication using dedicated short range communications (DSRC) between the vehicle and the pedestrian or bicycle rider's compatible smart phone (with proprietary V2P/B application). Honda V2P/B technology alerts both the driver and pedestrian/bicycle rider to a potential collision, and allows the driver and pedestrian/bicycle rider to exchange courteous messages. Other demonstration by Honda at the event include the Lane-level Hazard information plus Automated Lane Change – using a combination of connected car and cloud communication technology to detect and inform the drivers of a hazard in a lane with a live image of the hazard detail.
"The creation and deployment of advanced, intelligent transportation systems represent the new frontier in the effort to one day eliminate traffic collisions, injuries and fatalities. We will demonstrate our vision for realizing Honda's dream of a collision-free society by showcasing our continued technological innovations in active safety, connected and automated vehicle technology."
- Frank Paluch, president of Honda R&D Americas, Inc
