On April 23, 2021, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. held a press conference to announce the appointment of Toshihiro Mibe as President and Representative Director, effective April 1, 2021. He announced the company's efforts to achieve carbon neutrality and zero traffic accident fatalities.
As the direction of Honda's vision and initiatives, the company announced that it will thoroughly address "environment" and "safety" and aims to lead the evolution in the areas of mobility, power unit, energy and robotics for the future.
Initiatives for the Global Environment
Honda aims to become carbon neutral in 2050 through all products and corporate activities in which Honda is involved. Honda aims to achieve zero environmental impact throughout the lifecycle of not only its products but also its corporate activities, focusing on the three pillars of carbon neutrality, clean energy, and resource circulation.
In addition to electric motorcycles, the company is also working to improve the fuel efficiency of gasoline engines and use biofuels, and is poised to lead the industry as the top environmental runner in motorcycles.
With regard to the electrification of motorcycles, the key to widespread use of the mobile power pack will be to separate the expensive battery from the vehicle, targeting "B to B (business-to-business)" and "B to G (business with ministries and local governments)" in developed countries where there is a strong social demand for electrification.
In addition to expanding the range of products available to the general public, there is also a need for a large number of battery replacement stations and the convenience of being able to use them with EVs from any manufacturer. The company has established consortiums with other motorcycle manufacturers in Japan and Europe, respectively, and is working to standardize interchangeable battery technology.
The company hopes to expand the use of the Mobile Power Pack to include power products and micromobility, and has started a demonstration experiment in India using the Rickshaw, a three-wheeled taxi.
In addition, in order to respond to diverse needs, "GYRO e:" "GYRO CANOPY e:", the company plans to launch three electric motorcycles in the first and second moped classes in the personal category by 2024, as well as products in the fun category.
Safety Initiatives
The goal is to reduce the number of traffic fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles to zero worldwide by 2050. As a manufacturer of both motorcycles and automobiles, Honda will strengthen its research on coexistent safety technologies and lead the way in realizing an accident-free society through both hardware and software.
Since many fatal accidents involving motorcycles involve four-wheeled vehicles, the company aims to apply advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which have evolved into all-round safe driving support, to all four-wheeled vehicles in developed countries by 2030. In addition, the company aims to improve the accident coverage ratio by applying the knowledge and know-how accumulated through the research and development of Level 3 automated driving technology to the further intelligence of ADAS.
Video of Honda's inaugural press conference
Original Source [ Honda ]
