New Model News

Honda adding CR-V Hybrid to lineup, refreshing CR-V's looks for 2020

Eileen Falkenberg-Hull
Sep 30, 2019, 9:55 am

Honda has added a new CR-V to its lineup for the 2020 model year, the CR-V Hybrid.

Photo courtesy of Honda North America

Do you hear that, Toyota? Honda is coming for you. With the addition of the 2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid to the company's stable, the automaker is more poised than ever to take on the sales competition of the Toyota RAV4, in ways that the Nissan Rogue Hybrid wasn't ready to.

The move is on top of a refreshed exterior design for the 2020 model year across the CR-V lineup, which sees the compact SUV get a bolder and less segmented design in line with the looks of the Honda Pilot, Passport, and HR-V. The Hybrid also gets hybrid model badging, a blue Honda logo in the center of the grille, distinctive bar-type fog lights, and a hidden tailpipe. The CR-V Hybrid Touring trim has a unique rear bumper.

2020 Honda CR-V Rear Exterior The 2020 CR-V has refined fascias.Photo courtesy of Honda North America

Honda has added three new paint jobs for the 2020 model year: Sonic Gray Pearl, Aegean Blue Metallic, and Radiant Red Metallic. The gray and red are available on all models but the blue is exclusively for non-hybrid CR-Vs..

All CR-V EX and EX-L trims, including Hybrid, will ride on newly designed 18-inch wheels with a dark gray and machined finish. CR-V Touring models come standard with a new19-inch wheel.

For 2020, the non-hybrid CR-V is powered exclusively by a 190-horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder power plant. CR-V Hybrid SUVs get two electric motors paired with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine resulting in 212 total horsepower.

Inside the cabin, the non-hybrid and hybrid CR-V models are also very similar. Hybrid models have their gear shifter flanked by switches for Econ, Sport, and EV drive modes. While Econ and EV are explanatory, Sport is a little more technical. Sport model enhances throttle response and the sound of the exhaust is changed for a sportier note.

2020 Honda CR-V Interior Steering Wheel Shifter Drive Modes Screen The interior of the CR-V Hybrid has a different shifter and new drive modes.Photo courtesy of Honda North America

Honda has change up the instrument panel for the CR-V Hybrid models. Those SUVs get a power-charge monitor and a driver-selectable display for power distribution and regeneration. Like in the Hyundai Ioniq, the CR-V has deceleration paddles where paddle shifters would normally be, allowing for various degrees of harshness.

The automaker has redesigned the CR-V's center console to allow for easier storage. There's also standard Qi wireless charging on Touring trim models.

All 2020 model year Honda CR-Vs will come standard with the Honda Sensing suite of safety and driver assistance technologies including the automaker's Collision Mitigation Braking System with Forward Collision Warning and pedestrian sensing capability, Road Departure Mitigation with Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Adaptive Cruise Control with low-speed follow, and Lane Keeping Assist. Blind spot information, Rear Cross Traffic Monitor, and Auto High Beam headlights are available.

2020 Honda CR-V Interior Seats Folding Back Seat Even in CR-V Hybrid models, the cargo load floor remains flat.Photo courtesy of Honda North America

The 2019 Honda CR-V started at $25,545 and topped off just over $35,000. Pricing for the non-hybrid 2020 CR-V is expected to be similar but hybrid buyers will likely pay a premium for their product.

Expect to see the CR-V and CR-V hybrid in showrooms next year.

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Self-Driving Cars

Honda, Verizon working together to harvest 5G for vehicle-to-infrastructure  communication

Honda is working with Verizon on self-driving cars technology.

Photo courtesy of American Honda Motor Co. Inc.

The Mcity campus was designed to be a proving ground for new technologies. Honda and Verizon are utilizing it as such as they partner to explore how Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband and 5G Mobile Edge Compute (MEC) can be used to ensure quick and reliable communication between road infrastructure, vehicles, and pedestrians.

The 5G technology leverages cloud technology to deliver lower latency, a large amount of bandwidth, and improved communication. This communication includes the way that vehicles interact with ther cars, traffic lights, pedestrians and emergency vehicles to improve threat detection and avoid accidents when seconds matter most. That's where the "V2" in acronyms like "V2V" (vehicle-to-vehicle) and "V2X" (vehicle- to-everything).

Honda and Verizon Test How 5G Enhances Safety for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles www.youtube.com

Honda has been working since 2017 to develop a technology that will help to create a collision-free society. The technology, called Safe Swarm, uses V2X communication to enable vehicles to communicate with other road users and share key information such as location, speed, and vehicle sensor data.

There are some obstacles, not the least of which is the need to outfit each vehicle with onboard artificial intelligence capabilities. The use of 5G helps move the AI capabilities from the vehicle to the MEC, reducing the need for AI onboard each vehicle.

"The ability to move computing power to the edge of our 5G network is an essential building block for autonomous and connected vehicles, helping cars to communicate with each other in near real-time and with sensors and cameras installed in streets and traffic lights," said Sanyogita Shamsunder, vice president of Technology Development and 5G Labs at Verizon. "When you consider that roughly 42,000 people were killed in car accidents last year and 94% of accidents are caused by human error, our new technologies including 5G and MEC can help drivers 'see' things before the human eye can register and react helping to prevent collisions and save lives."

Three safety scenarios have been explored as part of the testing:

  • Pedestrian Scenario - A pedestrian is crossing a street at an intersection. An approaching driver cannot see the pedestrian due to a building obstructing the view. Smart cameras mounted in the intersection relay information to MEC using the 5G network. Verizon's MEC and V2X software platforms detect the pedestrian and vehicle and determine the precise location of road users assisted by Verizon's Hyper Precise Location services. A visual warning message is then sent alerting the driver of the potential danger.
  • Emergency Vehicle Warning Scenari - A driver cannot see an approaching emergency vehicle and cannot hear its siren due to the high volume of in-vehicle audio. Verizon's MEC and V2X software receive a safety message from the emergency vehicle and send a warning message to nearby vehicles. The driver receives a visual warning.
  • Red Light Runner Scenario - A vehicle fails to stop at a red light. Using data from the smart cameras, MEC and V2X software detect the vehicle and send a red-light-runner visual warning message to other vehicles approaching the intersection.

You can watch the video of Honda and Verizon's Mcity tests at http://honda.us/5GResearch.

Honda isn't the only company exploring what 5G communication can offer. Pirelli has installed the tech in its tires and BMW recently updated its My BMW app to make it compatible with the new technology. Audi is working on similar technology out on the road in Virginia and Georgia.

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In-Car Tech

Lexus Teammate advanced driver assist tech debuting on 2022 LS 500h

New driver assist technology is coming to the Lexus lineup later this year.

Photo courtesy of Lexus

New Lexus Teammate driver assistance technology will debut on the 2022 Lexus LS 500h later this year. Its availability is constrained to all-wheel drive models.

The technology was developed based on the Mobility Teammate Concept. This automated driving concept is unique to Toyota sough to enhance communication between drivers and cars, "enabling them to reach out to each other for mutual assistance". The concept sees cars and humans interacting and partnering rather than having automation take over for drivers. This approach allows drivers to enjoy the experience of driving but allowing the vehicle to take over some functions of driver's duties at times. In this way, the tech works as both guardian and chauffeur.

2022 Lexus The company's flagship sedan will get the technology first.Photo courtesy of Lexus

2022 Lexus LS 500h

On the 2022 Lexus 500h, Lexus Teammate will offer two functions: Advanced Drive and Advanced Park.

Advanced Drive is design to "accurately detect driving conditions to plan and execute acceleration, braking, and steering commands to maintain the vehicle within the lane, follow other vehicles, change lanes, navigate certain interchanges and traffic jams and overtake slower vehicles." It's a Level 2 functionality that "allows for driving on limited-access highways with partial hands-free, eyes-on-the-road operation".

This description makes it sound a lot like the suite of lane keeping, lane centering, and adaptive cruise control technology that Hyundai offers rather than true Level 3 technology that General Motors's Super Cruise delivers.

Lexus will show operation of the technology on a screen with information displayed like this.Photo courtesy of Lexus

Advanced Park operates similar to how the Genesis GV80's hands-free parking assist technology works. The Lexus tech automatically controls steering, acceleration, braking, and gear changes with parallel parking or backing into a parking space. It uses a combination of 360-degree sensing technologies and a bird's eye view display to perform the task while allowing the driver to monitor progress.

"We are very proud of Lexus Teammate, which is the culmination of five years of close collaboration between our technical centers in Japan and the US. We conducted simultaneous development and rigorous testing in both markets with the goal of achieving industry-leading advanced driver assistance functionality," says Derek Caveney, executive engineer at Toyota Motor North America's Integrated Vehicle Systems team.

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