According to Toshihiro Mibe, president and CEO of Honda Motor Company, a major Japanese automaker, the company is placing a lot of money on emerging technologies like generative AI and autonomous driving as it looks to provide people with comprehensive mobility solutions in the future. These technologies will help people overcome limitations like time and location.
Mibe introduced the autonomous car Cruise Origin at this year’s Japan Mobility Show. Honda, GM, and Cruise intend to use the vehicle to introduce a driverless ride-hailing service in Japan in the early part of 2026, along with the self-driving “Honda CI-MEV” micro-mobility vehicle for last-mile mobility.
In addition, he revealed that the company’s electric sports car, the Prelude Concept, “will become the prelude for our future models” of sporty automobiles.
“The mobility products and services that embody Honda’s dreams will enable people to ‘transcend various constraints such as time and place’ and to ‘augment their abilities and possibilities’,” Mibe stated in his speech.
According to him, those two principles are fundamental to all of the mobility goods and services Honda has provided throughout the course of its 75-year existence. They are also the ideals Honda hopes to uphold going forward.
Regarding Honda’s autonomous vehicle, the “Cruise Origin,” he stated that it will allow people to go beyond time constraints because it can be used in a completely private manner, allowing users to make better use of their travel time. For example, they can hold meetings or enjoy family time without worrying about other people around them.
“Together with GM and Cruise, Honda is planning to launch a driverless ride hail service using the Cruise Origin, in Japan in early 2026,” Mibe stated.
He said that Honda is also developing their “dream mobility” using generative AI.
He stated, “At Honda, we started using generative AI to support our designers’ ability to demonstrate their creativity.” He also mentioned that generative AI will produce concept drawings of future mobility at the ongoing Japan Mobility Show.
“Honda has always been committed to creating sporty vehicles,” Mibe said, revealing the company’s electric sports car Prelude Concept. Furthermore, a “prelude” is a “preceding or introductory performance.”
This model will serve as a precursor to our upcoming models, which will carry over the “pleasure of driving” into a fully electric future and represent Honda’s unwavering commitment to sports excellence.” Honda also displayed the SUSTAINA-C Concept, a recyclable and reusable acrylic resin automobile.
In addition, the Japanese company displayed the “Honda eVTOL,” an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, as well as the “HondaJet,” which is designed to combine these aircraft with on-ground mobility technologies to allow people to travel more freely and smoothly on land, in the sea, and in the air.
