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This is pretty wild. Honda UK has just announced a car that can drive itself on the freeway (Honda Builds Accord with 'Autopilot' Tech). It's called the Honda Accord ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist System). Using a millimeter-wave radar sensor on the front of the car, it can scan ahead for other vehicles and slow down/speed up accordingly. It also handles turns in the road by using cameras to watch the white lines separating each lane. The auto-pilot system requires the driver to touch the steering wheel every 10 seconds, so you can't fall asleep or hop in the back without the car noticing. But the article makes no mention of what the car will actually do if the driver doesn't check in. Will it coast to a stop? Will it turn off the road? Possibly slam on the brakes? Who knows. This new Accord will go on sale in the UK in March for $25,880 pounds (US$46,500). The price seems a bit steep for a feature that requires me to stay behind the wheel, but I guess that proves I'm not the target audience. Driving on a freeway is easy, and it just doesn't seem worth the extra US$20,000 (I don't know what a regular Accord goes for, but I'm guessing around $25,000). Finally, it isn't clear how well this will work, or if people will actually feel comfortable using it. Regardless, all Hondas are due to have ADAS by 2016. Here's a little more information from a Honda press release dated September 1, 2005: New Civic Leads Quartet of Models Debuting at the Frankfurt Motor Show |
