Many automakers have released advanced smart cruise control features in recent years that allow a car to brake, steer and accelerate to maintain its lane and keep up or slow down with traffic on the highway. Honda is about to reveal its next step toward a fully autonomous car with the introduction new automated driving technologies at the 2014 World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, which runs from September 7-11.
Building on current adaptive cruise control and lane departure prevention systems, Honda will be demonstrating its new Automated Highway Driving system on an eight-mile highway loop in Detroit, MI. The key elements of this technology suite are the abilities to perform more in-depth autonomous driving maneuvers such as lane changes, freeway entry/exit and even avoiding obstacles in the road. The Lane-level Hazard information plus Automated Lane Change uses vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication to alert the driver of impending obstructions in the road, and it can it veer around said hazard, if needed.
V2V is also used to create the “Virtual Tow” function, which is an innovative technology that could come in handy for drivers suffering from a medical condition. In this setup, a driver in need of assistance (heart attack, stroke, etc) can send an alert to nearby motorists who would then be able to use V2V to link up to this person’s car and “tow” them to a safe location such as a hospital. In theory, this could also be used to help reduce collisions resulting from a drunk driver.
In addition to V2V, Honda is also working on the development of vehicle-to-motorcycle (V2M), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) and vehicle-to-bicycle (V2B). The hope here is to make the roadways safer for everyone regardless of their mode of transportation.
“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,” said Frank Paluch, president of Honda R&D Americas, Inc.
There is no word as to if or when Honda plans on bringing any of these technologies to its productions cars, but each shows amazing potential for real-world applications.
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