Emerging Technologies Blog

An Acura RLX sedan, a prototype car

Residents of California watch out!Honda self-driving cars will share the road with you.

In September 2014, the Californian Department of Motor vehicles issued permits that allow for testing of autonomous vehicles on Californian public roads.Google and Audi are among companies that received the California DMV permits and they did not waste anytime testing their vehicles.The DMV gave them some requirements for testing self-driving cars in California. Chief among them is that a human must be in the driver's seat at all times to take over the steering wheel if something goes awry.
Google,Audi,Mercedes-Benz,Nissan etc all have their own self-driving autos; with a goal to bring fully autonomous cars to the market by 2020. Every major automaker wants to play its part in the development of this emerging technology.

Japanese automaker Honda Motor co. has received a self-driving permit from the Californian Department of Motor Vehicles to test its cars on public California roads.The Japanese automaker became the tenth manufacturer to received a license from the Californian DMV while German carmaker Audi is the first to get such permission to trial self-driving cars on public roads. Honda is clearly listed on the DMV's website. Other auto brands that have the permit include Tesla,BMW,Volkswagen etc.

Audi R8 E-tron

Prior to Honda receiving the autonomous driving permit from the Californian Department of Motor Vehicles, it has a testing facility located in Concord, California where its driverless cars are put to the test before allowing them to ride among vehicles driven by ''ass-kicking'' humans.Audi, Google have also have such facility.

While California is not only the state where self-driving cars are tested, Michigan, Florida,Nevada and Texas also allow testing of robotic cars, it is known the world over as the ''most popular'' testing ground for these vehicles. It is home to Google and Audi's Electronics research Lab. Google  in particular is  testing its modified Lexus RX450h self-driving cars and its own pod-like cars built from scratch to drive on their own.
Google cars have been hit from behind by human driven cars whose drivers are always distracted or not paying attention while behind the wheel. In fact, Google said its car have so far been involved in 16 accidents  six it started its self-driving car project,and in all accidents, the car was not the cause. It has a monthly report where it shares incidents encountered by its cars to the Californian Department of Motor Vehicles and the general public.

Google and other autonomous vehicle companies have pledge to have self-driving cars on the market by 2020. A vision Nissan has said it is in for the long haul. However, not every major automaker is interested in this emerging technology. British luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover revealed sometime ago it wouldn't make self-driving cars because customers are not ''cargoes.''