HAGA, Japan—
Honda Motor Co.
HMC -0.27%
said it would focus for now on partially autonomous driving technology to improve safety, adding itself to the list of auto makers that say fully self-driving cars aren’t ready for prime time.
The Japanese auto maker, an investor in
General Motors Co.
’s Cruise self-driving unit, this week showed off a prototype system that allows a car to automatically overtake slow-moving vehicles on a highway. It plans to roll out the technology globally starting in 2024, and it says it has found ways to use less-expensive radar and sensor technologies to make the system affordable for mass-market cars.
However, the car can’t fully drive itself. An alert human driver still needs to be at the wheel.
Honda’s
HMC -0.27%
executive chief engineer,
Mahito Shikama,
said the company intends to focus on technologies such as the automatic passing system and other crash-prevention measures that fall short of full autonomy. “
Honda’s
focus is on developing technologies that make cars safer and more reliable,” he said.
A Honda operating executive,
Yutaka Tamagawa,
said full autonomy “would be a result, not a goal,” of the car maker’s research and development.
Honda’s position offers the latest evidence that big players in the auto industry are becoming more cautious about pouring cash into the development of driverless cars after years of bold promises. The recent economic slowdown is adding pressure to curb expenses.
Last year, Honda introduced a batch of 100 vehicles equipped with what it said was the world’s first certified level three autonomous-driving technology. The system enables drivers to take their eyes off the road when driving in traffic on an expressway. Full autonomy is known as level five.
Honda invested $750 million in GM’s Cruise unit in 2018 and said it was ready to invest an additional $2 billion by 2030.
At the time, some auto makers expressed confidence that full self-driving technology was just a few years away. More recently, though, technical barriers have emerged, and companies have poured more money into electric vehicles.
Ford Motor Co.
and
Volkswagen AG
have said in the past few months that they intend to emphasize technologies that will be ready in the nearer term. In October, Ford said it was shutting down
Argo
AI, its autonomous-driving venture, and shifting some Argo employees to its driver-assistance and software teams.
“We’re at the beginning of the end of the self-driving car business model as it stands today,” said
Takaki Nakanishi,
head of a Tokyo-based automotive consulting firm.
“Developing self-driving cars is proving even tougher than expected, and auto makers are coming to understand that the value lies not in creating a car in which people can do things like sleep, but one that’s safe and prevents deadly accidents,” Mr. Nakanishi said.
Despite losses at Cruise, GM Chief Executive
Mary Barra
has defended the business.
In an October call with analysts, Cruise Founder
Kyle Vogt
said that by investing in full-autonomy technology, the company had pulled ahead of rivals “stuck in the trough of disillusionment.”
Write to River Davis at [email protected]
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