Honda launches world's first level 3 self-driving car

TOKYO -- Honda Motor will on Friday launch a new car equipped with the world's first certified level 3 autonomous driving technology, paving the way for the automobile industry to gear up efforts to commercialize such automation for passenger vehicles.Industry experts are cautiously watching to see if the Legend, a luxury sedan that operates without driver supervision under certain conditions but requires the driver to assume control of the vehicle within seconds when alerted, can capture enough demand to suggest a way forward for other manufacturers.Honda unveiled the Legend on Thursday at an online press event."Most accidents involve human error, and driving will be more exciting if we can mitigate the driver's fatigue and stress," Yoichi Sugimoto, who oversees driver assistance technology at Honda R&D, told reporters."We aim to reduce the driving burden. ... We are entering a new stage of Honda Sensing," he added, referring to Honda's driving assistance technology.