As you may know, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is happening now in Vegas. On this very day 43 years ago, at CES, the famous Commodore 64 made its debut, and now, four decades later, Honda is showing off two new concept cars and a new in-car operating system, none of which really have anything to do with the Commodore 64. But I just wanted to mention it. Honda’s concepts are quite striking, and based on past experience with Honda, I wouldn’t expect any eventual production cars to look much like this. Though, to be fair, the Honda e sure looked like its concept progenitor, so who knows?
Honda’s two new cars are named nothing, kind of: the Honda 0 Saloon and Honda 0 SUV, and the car OS is named Asimo OS, after their now-discontinued humanoid robotics program. Honda says the two new electric vehicles are “confirmed for production in 2026 at the Honda EV Hub in Ohio” and that “0 Series models set to advance Honda’s global leadership of Level 3 (eyes off) automated driving,” which is something I’d like to look into a lot more, as I believe Level 3 autonomous driving is ill-defined garbage. But perhaps Honda has made some genuine advancements?
We’ll have to wait and see about that, but we can at least see what these concepts look like right now. This is the 0 Saloon:
It’s a pretty striking look! The front end feels a bit like a simplified Lamborghini Aventador to me, while the overall shape, with what reminds me of a sort of one-volume/kammback look, is giving (as the kids say) AMC Gremlin, Lotus Elite, and Brubaker Box vibes:
I do especially like the rear and the dramatic taillight treatment, a sort of infinity-box effect:
Is that a rear window, with the taillights incorporated into it? The only other example of that I can think of would be the Maserati Khasmin, if that’s in fact what is going on there.
The one-volume, angular approach may remind many of a Cybertruck, though this feels like a far more refined sort of design. The SUV is more of a two-box sort of design:
This feels a bit more conventional, but still retains the dramatic Kamm-like rear end:
There is definitely a rear window there, which I’m happy to see. No real specs are given for either the sedan or SUV, but there are some nice evocative pictures of the interior:
There’s a stupid-looking yoke steering wheel, of course, but everything else feels quite nice, airy and clean and modern; the dash is a vast slab of LCD screens, and, disappointingly, I don’t see a single tactile, physical control in sight.
The glass roof is huge, feeling downright convertible-like in photos like these. Would this make it to production like this? Who knows.
Honda’s Asimo OS, named, as we said, for their humaniod robot, was announced but the press release description doesn’t really reveal anything significant, being more of a general overview of a a car OS:
“Even after development of the ASIMO robot, Honda continued to advance its robotics technologies, including technologies from ASIMO that recognize external environments and autonomous behavior control that enabled ASIMO to react while understanding the intentions of people around it. By combining such robotics technologies with advanced intelligence technologies for the Honda 0 Series, Honda strives to offer the value of software defined vehicles (SDVs) unique to Honda.
As a software platform, ASIMO OS will apply integrated management of electronic control units (ECUs) for vehicle systems such as automated driving/advanced driver assistance systems (AD/ADAS) and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system.”
The part about reacting and understanding the intentions of the people around the car is possibly interesting, but I’d need a hell of a lot more detail before I got excited about that. More interesting is what Honda says about their Level 3 automated driving:
“Honda 0 Series models will be equipped with a system that enables the expansion of the range of driving conditions where driver assistance and Level 3 automated driving will be available. This expansion will start with eyes-off technology available in traffic congestion on highways, then will continue through the OTA updates of the functions.
With Level 3 automated driving, the vehicle will oversee driving, which will enable a human driver to perform a “second task” while enroute to their destination, whether watching a movie or remotely join a meeting. Honda will further advance its technologies and aims to become the first automaker to expand the application of eyes-off functions to all driving situations, opening new possibilities for mobility.”
What I want to know – and what no manufacturer has so far been able to adequately describe to me regarding L3 autonomy – is what the handover process looks like when the car needs the human – who may, as Honda notes, be involved in a “second task” – to take control of the car. This has always been the Achilles’ Heel of L3, which allows the human to pay no attention – until they need to take over. I’ll reach out to Honda and see if I can find out how they plan to tackle this significant hurdle.
These concepts do look cool, and I’m curious to see what their production counterparts will actually be like, as well as learning all of the important stuff about them, like range and cost. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully, Honda can do better than the Sony Honda Afeela 1 in terms of performance and cost.
The rear shot of the Saloon makes me think of a dog stretching: https://www.superbdog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/why-does-my-dog-stretch-1024×700.jpg
What I don’t get is how this could be level 3 autonomous while the supposedly super high-tech Afeela is not. Also, I guess they will share their platform, in which case I’m really worried about its specs. Or, Honda just gave Sony some mediocre parts to play with and are keeping the good stuff for their own product (not very nice imo)
I thought it was level automation that is the dangerous garbage?
I just hope that they make usable wagon and that yoke is also ditched at birthing process.
But World (Europe atleast) is ready for new Accord Wagon, EV version especially.
Changing Asimo from a robot to an OS is as lame as US Robotics selling modems instead of actual dang robots. Don’t name something after cool sci-fi stories if you can’t fulfill the hype. I’m looking at you Hoverboards!
Even Musk with Optimus, if it can’t transform into the Semi then get out of here with usurping popular culture! Naming the company after a guy that married a pigeon seems to be self fulfilling though.
Let me guess, you’re still pissed about turbo Taycans too. Welcome to the club.
I would’ve been a little more ok with it if they put a turbo button on the dash, a la early PCs that ran at 4.77mhz but you could push the turbo button and they jump to a whopping 8mhz, if they had one of those, only on the Turbo versions, I’d be like ok, but they didn’t even do that!
Now that I’m thinking about, I may relabel the sport button in my Bolt EV to Turbo…
The future sucks.
Do these actually exist? Like, can you walk up to them and touch them, or are these digital renders, like Chrysler’s last “concept”?
They’re on display at CES right now. I’m sure they’re static, though.
Someone needs to go take some real photos then, I think I like the Saloon, but its hard to tell for sure without real lighting
There’s some here: https://insideevs.com/news/746341/honda-0-series-concept-production/
The Saloon also has XJ220-style retractable headlight covers.
It’s smaller than I thought from the renders. It’s more “Stretched Prius” scale than “Lamborghini Minivan”.
Always a pleasant surprise when a modern car is actually smaller than it looks.
Though a Lamborghini Minivan would be pretty effen sweet.
I hate this glass roof trend. Especially if I have to learn how to stare up at the sky to see behind me. Just give me proper rear visibility and save all the money on cameras and sensors that don’t really work reliably anyway.
I guess the future of the roof rack industry looks pretty bleak. Time to sell our shares.
I dig the Saloon. Reminds me of Centauri’s Star Car in “The Last Starfighter” movie from 1984, to include the slanted nose and gull wing doors.
The saloon looks like a 4-door Bizzarrini Manta. That’s a very good thing.
Great comment!
Loved the shoutout for the C64! I had one back when they came out. 43 years you say? Wow. I’m old. Maybe they’ll come out with one that looks like a DB5 and call it the 007. I’d be interested in one of those.
I wrote my first university thesis on a C64, printed out on a dot matrix printer on the paper with tear-off holes down each side. More than once, static electricity or suchlike made it go *glitch* and I’d lose a couple of hours of work before I could save it – laboriously on cassette tape. It felt like the future.
The rear ends on both of them are awful.
I don’t think I like that SUV but the Saloon looks sleek as hell. I’d definitely enjoy seeing that rolling around the streets.
It is Saloooooon!
Both look attractively futuristic, but I’m definitely partial to the Saloon.
I’m not really a fan of screens for dashboards, but these actually look good — probably because they integrate so well with the overall styling. Honda has always gotten high marks for its interiors, they’re clearly thinking this design through thoroughly.
The style may not be for everybody, but for someone who grew up on Star Trek and Syd Mead futurism, and with a love for Italian edgy designs of the 70s and 80s, this is an awful lot like catnip…
Imma let you finish, but the Oldsmobile Silhouette had one of the best one-volume designs of all time!
Honda is clearly copying Olds’s homework from 1990. Which is still a better outcome than what we’d probably get post-merger with Nissan – a warmed-over Nissan Quest/Mercury Villager!
The Silhouette was by far the most stylish of all 47165 badge engineered GM vans of the time.
Previa egg that that bird sat on too long.
Oh man, the saloon is so much damn fun
A.W.S.O.M.E. – O
Lamborghini Minivan FTW!
If this thing can turn and have 800 hp, I might say that I would have this over the Aventador.
It isn’t like I can probably afford either, but, if I had my druthers…..
It’d be swell if Honda would cool it with the autonomous driving thing, since that’s appearing more and more to be a dead-end, but I’m a fan of everything else.
I just hope the Saloon’s design language isn’t lost in the transition to a production model. We need more weird EVs that weren’t spearheaded by insane people.