Honda R&D Co Ltd., the R&D subsidiary of Honda Motor Company, announced today that it is entering into formal discussions with Waymo, an independent company of Alphabet Inc., to integrate its self-driving technology with Honda vehicles.
This technical collaboration between Honda researchers and Waymo’s self-driving technology team will allow both companies to learn about the integration of fully self-driving sensors, software and computer into Honda vehicles.
As part of the discussion on technical collaboration, Honda could initially provide Waymo with vehicles modified to accommodate Waymo’s self-driving technology. These vehicles would join Waymo’s fleet, which are currently being tested across four U.S. cities.
This collaboration would take place with Honda R&D engineers based in Silicon Valley, California and Tochigi, Japan, who would work closely with Waymo engineers based in Mountain View, California and Novi, Michigan.
Honda previously announced its intention to put production vehicles with automated driving capabilities on highways sometime around 2020 related to its goal of a collision-free society.
In addition to these on-going efforts, this technical collaboration with Waymo would allow Honda R&D to explore a different technological approach to bring fully self-driving technology to market.
Despite these joint efforts, Waymo and Honda R&D will also explore the potential of a broad range of automated driving technologies.