Honda has commenced testing of its new cars with automated and connected vehicle technology at the Concord Naval Weapons Station (CNWS) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The company will use the 'GoMentum Station' test-bed site at the CNWS to advance its technologies, under an agreement with the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) in conjunction with the City of Concord.
Honda will test modified versions of Acura's flagship RLX sedan at GoMentum Station.
The company claims that the new prototype sensors and cameras added to the vehicle will work along with the range of forward, reverse and corner sensors that enable a suite of AcuraWatch safety and driver assistive technologies on the production RLX.
Honda Research Institute USA Systems Integration, Automated Vehicle Research group lead Paul Cummings said: "The Concord Naval Weapons Station is an ideal proving ground to augment Honda's research and development efforts because it is a controlled environment that can be continuously modified to represent a wide array of settings that an automated vehicle must navigate, especially for urban operation.
"This program will bring a new level of robustness to Honda's industry-leading efforts in the area of automated and connected vehicle technology."
Honda is also equipping its current vehicles with advanced driver-assist and early-stage automated driving technologies, which will 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.
Last year, the company tested a vehicle capable of automated freeway merging, exiting and lane changing, as well as a unique vehicle-to-vehicle virtual tow capability for assisting a driver in distress, at the ITS World Congress in Detroit.
