Honda's Self-Driving Lawn Mower Is Super Cool but Will Cost More Than a Civic Si

Honda is launching a new line of EV ride-on lawn mowers, some of which will be self-driving, for maintaining huge lawns and landscapes. They promise an extremely impressive grass-trimming efficiency—and they’d better, too, since they’re more than 30 grand.

Last week, Honda introduced its new ProZision zero-turn mowers, large 48-volt BEV mowers with a raft of trick features like touchscreen controls, adjustable seats, and a cutting system that uses three blades instead of the usual two, made in Swepsonville, North Carolina.

These are large machines—there will be a 54-inch deck model and a 60-inch deck model—which you’d only buy if you’re planning to cut multiple acres. For reference, I have a 42-inch deck on my Cub Cadet ZT1 (conceptually quite similar to these Hondas), and to me, that’s huge.

The triple-blade setup is interesting, since many large lawn mowers have two big blades instead. Doing three smaller ones gives you more cutting surface and theoretically could be more efficient. However, it also increases cost. The blade motors are some of the most expensive parts on my Cub Cadet, at about $1,200 a piece if replacements are needed.

Speaking of comparisons, my Cubby is also electric and can cut about two acres on a charge. According to their spec sheets, these Hondas can run for over four hours and cut as much as 15 acres on a charge.

The non-self-driving mowers like this one don’t have the sensor suite, but they still have quite a few fancy features. Honda

That said, my Cub Cadet lists for about $4,000, while the 54 and 60-inch Hondas list for a staggering $32,999. Obviously, the target audience for these is not small-plot wannabe ranchers like myself. These are for maintaining sprawling landscapes on commercial properties or big-time rich-guy estates. And while my Cub Cadet is really not robust enough for commercial operation, supposedly, these Hondas are.

The autonomous model’s pricing is TBA, but you can bet it will be quite a bit higher. Honda’s press release details that it’ll have “omnidirectional sensing, providing a full 360-degree view via radar and LiDAR sensors for obstacle detection. During autonomous operation, the mower slows when an object is detected, resumes its programmed pace once the path is clear, and will stop completely if the obstacle remains.”

It will work with a combination of programming (training) and those sensors. Operators will map out a cutting route, send the mower on its way, and as long as the LiDAR and radar work correctly, it’ll avoid kids or critters or stumps and everything else and do its job while humans can be left to other tasks, like running the weed-wackers (no robots for that yet).

I, personally, don’t love self-steering lawn bots because no matter how many safeguards are in place, I’m too paranoid about an unpiloted vehicle lurking around my property with a series of dangerous spinning blades. And, just as importantly, I absolutely love lawn mowing, and you won’t catch me surrendering one of my favorite summertime activities.

But of course, this does make a lot of sense for commercial applications. I don’t know if I’d cherish grass cutting sessions if I had to do 15 acres every week.

Here are the specs on Honda’s ProZision mowers, which should be on the market by next summer.

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