Video: Self-steering car allows hands-off approach

Weird. That is the only way to describe driving along a Dunedin motorway at 100kmh with your hands off the steering wheel watching the car steer itself.

''It does take a bit of getting used to,'' Otago Daily Times motoring editor David Thomson says, with a grin, from the passenger seat.

He is not wrong.

The new Honda Accord, which retails for $55,000, is the first mass-production vehicle in New Zealand able to steer itself and actively avoid collisions.

Motoring writer David Thomson explains  how Honda's new ADAS  system works while driving  on the...
Motoring writer David Thomson explains how Honda's new ADAS system works while driving on the Southern Motorway yesterday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
But trying the system and letting go of the wheel still takes a big leap of faith.

Honda says its advanced driver-assist system (ADAS) ''effectively amounts to auto-pilot technology for cars''.

The electronic system incorporates a sensor with lane-tracking and collision-mitigation technology to read the position of the car in relation to white road-marking lines.

It will sound a warning beep if the car crosses a line without indicating and then steer the car back back into the correct lane.

''This new technology is very exciting. The technological advances in cars in the last 10 years have been incredible, especially in electronics and miniaturisation,'' Mr Thomson said.

''This electronics suite takes control in an emergency situation. The car can steer itself, but it's really a corrective system to help keep people safe from accidents and distractions.

"In the past, manufacturers were concentrating on making cars that were safer in a crash. This technology is making cars that don't crash as often,'' he said.

''It's not fool-proof and it's not fail-safe. In certain conditions, it can struggle to pick up the white lines.

"But, this is the next generation of safety and fatigue-reduction technologies and, if this is the technology available now, imagine what it will be like in two or three years.''

New Zealand Transport Agency media manager Andy Knackstedt said yesterday the new technology would only make roads safer.

''It's pretty exciting and, I'm sure we'll only be seeing more and more benefits from this sort of technology.

"There's been some very significant developments in car safety in the last 10 years or so, with ABS [anti-lock braking system] and ESP [electronic stability programme] two of the most important advances in motoring safety since the seat belt,'' he said.

''It's encouraging that manufacturers are building safer vehicles and we encourage people to buy the safest car they can afford. But, it's also important people make sure they understand how this new technology works.''

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