Honda is planning to test their self-driving cars in California as the Department of Motor Vehicles of the state already gave an authorization allowing the automobile company to conduct their road tests.
The permission may mean that the multinational car company can finally assess their driverless cars in real highways rather than just in private and closed tracks. Honda's brand of self-driving cars will have the freedom to navigate in the roads of California together with other automobile manufacturers.
A report from Reuters said that the Japanese multinational company is among the ten car companies permitted to have their test driving in the state of California. The other car companies include Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Nissan, Volkswagen, BMW and Google which also have self-driving cars.
Like Audi and Hyundai, Honda is one of the vehicle manufacturers who signed a contract with Google to use its Android Auto software in their future automobiles. The said software will allow a vehicle to be connected to the owner's smartphone, allowing the user to access the car through the use of voice control. With this technology, navigation through the touch screen and even directing wheel controls can be made possible.
According to a report, driverless cars will be available in the highways approximately five years from now. The company Google, who is also one of the forerunners of self-driving cars, said that this type of automobile can be seen fully operating by the year 2020.
Self-driving cars may mean that robotic drive systems will be used instead of the conventional human drivers. It is believed that using this type of technology may improve traffic issues, will bring much more improvement to trucking industry, and will provide people an additional free time which they can utilize for relaxation.
At the moment, Honda's testing facility is located in the northeast of San Francisco in Concord California.
