Why Honda Pilot's adaptive cruise control system not working properly on hills?
I understand the problem with Adaptive Cruise Control having delayed braking on steep hills. It might not really be a problem with the Adaptive Cruise Control but with the range. The hills are steep and the range is not wide enough for vehicles to be detected. What you could do as a first step to help without this challenge is to clean the sensors to make it more responsive. You can also tweak the Adaptive Cruise Control settings with distance and sensitivity to make it sharper. If your Honda Pilot has a Hill Descent Control, it can interfere with the Adaptive Cruise Control, you can consider turning it off.
Does the Adaptive Cruise Control of your Honda Pilot exhibit the behaviour of erratic acceleration when not on hills too?