Tokyo (AFP)

The Japanese Honda announced on Wednesday that it had obtained the right to market one of its advanced autonomous driving systems (level 3) in Japan, thus becoming the first car manufacturer in the world to win this sesame.

This autonomous driving system can be activated "under certain conditions, for example when the vehicle is in a traffic jam on a highway," Honda said in a statement.

The group plans to introduce this system called "Traffic Jam Pilot" on its new Honda Legend sedan by the end of March 2021.

"This is the first time in the world that a car manufacturer has obtained this designation of level 3" for an autonomous driving system, a Honda spokesperson told AFP.

In a separate statement, the Japanese Ministry of Transport confirmed that it was a world first.

An international reference grid designates levels from 0 to 5 in terms of autonomous driving.

Level 3 corresponds to automation under pre-defined conditions.

Perceived as the future of transport, research into autonomous vehicles is the subject of massive investment by many manufacturers around the world.

Honda is particularly associated with the American General Motors in this area.

In July, Elon Musk, the boss of the American electric car champion Tesla, said he was "extremely confident" to have this year "the basic functionalities of level 5 autonomous driving", that is to say the ultimate degree of 'autonomy.

But many regulatory and legal obstacles still need to be lifted before cars are routinely circulated without a driver, experts say.

Due to these difficulties, the German Audi, for example, has this year given up on introducing its own level 3 autonomous driving system on its A8 model.

However, road laws are starting to evolve in some countries to allow level 3, such as recently in Japan or South Korea.

In the midst of accelerated demographic aging, Japan wants in particular to play a "major role" in autonomous vehicles to deal with the growing problem of road accidents caused by elderly drivers, the Ministry of Transport said in its press release.

© 2020 AFP