Honda Reveals New Autonomous Work Vehicle

Honda has revealed a new Autonomous Work Vehicle at CONEXPO 2023.



A little more than a year ago, Honda shared how its Autonomous Work Vehicle helped Black & Veatch set up its 1,000-acre solar farm in New Mexico. With an eight-hour runtime and the ability to carry up to 880 pounds anywhere you tell it to, the AWV certainly seemed capable on paper, though we were mostly taken by its cuteness. Fast forward to this week, and Honda’s already onto the third-generation AWV, boasting enhanced ergonomics, more than two times better payload capacity and prolonged longevity on a charge. Most importantly, it’s even cuter.

You’ll be able to meet the new AWV yourself if you happen to be on the ground at CONEXPO in Las Vegas later this month. And even though Honda hasn’t been building these buddies for long, the company has already refined its initial design twice in five years. Hats off to the R&D crew for an impressive series of breakthroughs and advancements in the RAAF (robot-as-a-friend) field over such a brief time.

Seriously though, the new AWV is quite a lot better than the old one. Where the previous generation could only haul 880 pounds, this one can handle 2,000. Where the old one ran out of juice after eight hours on a typical workday, this new one can keep chugging along for 10. I only make it about five hours before my eyes start to twitch, so that doesn’t seem too bad.

Honda has improved the tablet-based control interface as well, and now the AWV is better equipped to navigate itself during times when GPS signal is lost, with the help of lidar sensors. It works smarter and harder!