Honda Is Planning For A Future With Robots and Space

“The sky’s the limit.” is a popular phrase that describes achieving beyond your capability. But no one is taking this saying more seriously than the automotive maker Honda. The company is positioning itself for a vertical takeoff, as it is embarking on renewed efforts to bring about a future in which electric-hybrid air taxis ply the air, while also developing reusable rockets that bring robots to the moon.

As part of the company’s 2030 Vision, Honda’s vision of how people will work, travel and spend leisure time in the future will help expand its business beyond cars. The focus is to be able to broaden the definition of mobility and to improve people's daily lives.

The company has also struggled to keep up with the latest technology in its mainstay automotive business, partnering with General Motors Co. to develop electric vehicles using that larger company’s next-generation battery-pack technology.

However, due to this, the carmaker says all three areas of the expansive research and development road map overlap with Honda’s expertise, including propulsion, electrification, robotics, artificial intelligence and renewable energy. These core technologies are what will fuel the company’s push towards the final frontier.

Honda plans to begin flight tests in 2023 on a hybrid design that will couple a lithium battery with an innovative “gasturbine” generator to serve as a charger and extend the aircraft’s range. If management decides to proceed with development, Honda plans to have its craft certified by 2030.

In the 2040s, when Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) craft progresses to a fully autonomous stage, it is forecasted that emergency medical transport and logistics would be the most benefited markets, as these markets will need to function within a larger ecosystem of eVTOL ports, ground-based autonomous vehicles and computers that can adjust both passengers’ schedules and flight plans seamlessly to transport people.

On another note, Honda Robotics will continue refinements of its Asimo humanoid robot to reduce its size and increase its capabilities. These avatar robots will be used primarily as a remote surrogate to perform tasks, such as a paramedic controlling the robot to attend to an injured person. The Honda Avatar Robot will begin technology demonstrations by March 2024 and see “practical use” in the 2030s.

Space is the final frontier in which automakers are now beginning to ply their trade-in. The space industry has long been dominated by established defence contractors such as Boeing Co. and well-funded upstarts such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin.

Honda began work in late 2019 on the engineering requirements for a reusable rocket, the industry’s new paradigm given the success of SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Honda plans to develop a rocket to launch small satellites into low-earth orbit, another evolution that has energized the commercial space economy.

Further out in space, Honda sees commercial promise in helping lunar explorers unlock the potential of frozen water on the moon. The company is working with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to build a renewable energy system on the moon. This would break down water into its hydrogen and oxygen components, with Honda’s fuel-cell technology generating electricity. The oxygen also could be used in living quarters and to provide hydrogen for fueling rockets.

The company’s foray into so many different aspects of technology could lead to more connected machines — everything from cars to appliances to utilities that are

online — and create new service and revenue opportunities.

We, for one, are excited to see what Honda has in store for us in the coming years, and how this push will spur the automotive industry to further expand and improve to further heights.

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