CARS OF THE WORLD

Honda Legend 2021.

Most expensive Honda: First production model with Level 3 autopilot.

In March of the twenty-first year, Honda introduced the updated Legend business sedan, which became the first production car in the world to receive an autonomous control system of the third level.

During the restyling, the model practically did not change, although a 12.3-inch display of a virtual instrument appeared in its cabin.

The hybrid installation has remained the same, which here consists of a 3.5-liter aspirated V6 (314 hp) installed on the front axle, a seven-band robot, a 48-horsepower electric motor and two more electric motors (37 «horses» each), corresponding for the rotation of the rear wheels.

As for the autopilot, a proprietary system called «Honda Sensing Elite» was developed for the model.

According to the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) classification, it belongs to the third class of autonomy, that is, the electronics do not require an immediate response from the driver.

Note that the Tesla autopilot and the «Super Cruise» system of GM concern are certified for the second level of autonomy.

Under certain conditions, a person driving can be easily distracted by a smartphone or watch a movie from the screen of a multimedia system.

First of all, we are talking about traffic jams, where the control is taken over by the «Traffic Jam Pilot» subsystem. However, on the track, Honda’s autopilot also feels very confident.

On the highway, he is able to keep the car in the lane, make lane changes and overtake, and, if necessary, resort to emergency braking.

Note that the bumpers of the updated sedan have LED inserts that start glowing blue when the autopilot is activated, thereby notifying other road users that the car is driving on its own.

There are LED inserts in the cabin (on the front panel and steering wheel).

Numerous radars, lidars, sensors and cameras that scan the space around the car are responsible for the operation of the autopilot of the updated Honda Legend 2021 sedan.

Plus, the complex is able to determine the position of the car on the road based on the data of highly detailed 3D maps and satellite navigation readings.

Since we are talking about autopilot of the third level, it is not necessary for the driver to constantly keep his hands on the steering wheel of the car, but he is required to be ready to intervene for a limited period of time.

To prevent the driver from being distracted from what is happening on the road, there is a security camera on the front of the car.

If the latter detects that the driver is not looking at the road, the electronics will start sounding the alarm. In the cabin, audible alerts will turn on, the LED inserts on the steering wheel and dashboard will flash orange, and the seat belt will vibrate.

If the driver does not react in any way (for example, if he feels bad), then the autopilot will push the car to the side of the road and smoothly decelerate until it comes to a complete stop.

Then an automatic alarm will go off (to attract the attention of other road users).

Although the new Honda Legend with the «Sensing Elite» system is positioned in serial production, the edition of the modification is limited to only 100 copies.

All of them will be sold on the Japanese home market. Acceptance of orders is already open: for a sedan they ask from 11.0 million yen (this is about 102,000 dollars or 7.6 million rubles at the current exchange rate, while for a regular Legend they ask for from $ 67,000).