Honda Demonstrates Advanced Vehicle-to-Pedestrian and Vehicle-to-Motorcycle Safety Technologies

DETROIT, Aug. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Honda today demonstrated two experimental safety technologies aimed at reducing the potential for collisions between automobiles and pedestrians and between automobiles and motorcycles. These advanced Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) and Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) technologies, while still in the research and testing phase, demonstrate Honda's vision to advance safety for all road users, including pedestrians and motorcycle riders, as well as automobile occupants. These new technologies are part of a comprehensive effort being undertaken by Honda to develop leading-edge safety and driver assistive systems that can help predict and avoid traffic accidents through advanced sensing and communications technologies.

"While these are still experimental technologies, they provide a strong indication of the future potential for the kinds of advanced collision sensing and predictive technologies Honda is developing to further reduce the potential for serious accidents, injuries and even fatalities," said Jim Keller, chief engineer for Honda R&D Americas, Inc. "These V2P and V2M systems are part of Honda's broad vision for smarter and safer vehicles and roadways."

Honda also has been conducting advanced research into Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems and is a partner in the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation, including the Department's Safety Pilot Model Deployment test program, currently underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There are eight Honda vehicles participating in the test program.

Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) Technology
Honda R&D has successfully demonstrated the ability of a car equipped with Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology to detect a pedestrian with a DSRC enabled smartphone. This vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) technology uses cooperative communication between an individual's smartphone and nearby vehicles and provides auditory and visual warnings to both the pedestrian and drivers.  The system is designed to mitigate the potential for a collision between the vehicle and pedestrian. 

Using the pedestrian's smartphone GPS, its dynamic sensing capability and DSRC wireless technology in the 5.9GHz band, the pedestrian's smartphone and nearby vehicles establish a communications channel to determine if the pedestrian is in danger of being struck by an oncoming car. The V2P system is effective even when the pedestrian is not easily detectable by the driver, such as when stepping off a curb from behind a parked vehicle or other traffic obstruction.

A proprietary smartphone application determines the position, direction and speed of the pedestrian and, using DSRC technology, the position of surrounding vehicles. In the event of an impending collision as determined by the smartphone application, the system alerts the pedestrian via a repeating, high-volume beep and a warning on the screen of their smartphone.  At the same time, the system alerts the driver to the potential collision with an audible alarm and visual warnings on the vehicle's heads-up display and navigation screen. In addition to the basic safety warnings, the vehicle can also receive information on whether the pedestrian is texting, listening to music, or on a phone call.

Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) Technology
Using the DSRC communication system, Honda's Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) technology can determine the potential for a collision between a motorcycle and an automobile. The V2M system's advantage is its ability to sense the presence of a motorcycle even when it is obstructed from the view of nearby automobile drivers.  The system provides auditory and visual warnings to the automobile driver. This system is being researched and tested in cooperation with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

Honda Pedestrian Safety Technology
Honda has been a leader in the research and application of advanced pedestrian safety designs, including development of Polar II, the world's most advanced pedestrian safety crash test dummy. Pedestrian accidents account for approximately 13 percent of the 33,000 traffic fatalities that occur each year in the U.S. and an even higher percentage of traffic fatalities in many other countries with denser populations and more foot traffic. For more than a decade, Honda and Acura vehicles have been applying advanced pedestrian safety features, such as collapsible hood hinges and breakaway windshield wiper pivots, that can contribute to life-threatening head injuries in pedestrian collisions. 

Honda Safety Leadership
Honda has a long history of leadership in the development and application of advanced technologies and designs to enhance the safety of all road users, including automobile occupants, motorcycle riders and pedestrians. The company operates two of the world's most sophisticated crash test facilities and is responsible for numerous pioneering efforts in the areas of crashworthiness, airbag technology, collision compatibility and pedestrian safety. This commitment to safety is rooted in Honda's goal to be a company that society wants to exist, and it complements the company's leadership in reducing vehicle emissions, improving fuel efficiency and advancing alternatives to gasoline.

Advanced safety and drive- assistive technologies being offered on select Honda and Acura vehicles today include Honda's Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Blind Spot Information, Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMBS), Active Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow, Lane Keep Assist, and the LaneWatch blind spot monitoring system.

SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/honda-demonstrates-advanced-vehicle-to-pedestrian-and-vehicle-to-motorcycle-safety-technologies-221495031.html

From the Observer archive, 16 June 1963: a remarkable man called Honda

Dare to Dream, Soichiro Honda on one of his early motorbikes.

Just 10 years ago, a Japanese businessman on a machine-tool shopping expedition to this country decided to attend the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races. He was shocked by what he saw. His own company – Honda – was at that time turning out a 250cc machine called the "Dream", which developed 13 horsepower; the equivalent 250cc British machines competing in TT events gave 36hp. The realisation of the difference between the two was a turning point in Soichiro Honda's career. When he returned to Japan, he immediately established a research department (headed, as it still is, by himself) with the sole aim of producing a machine that could compete with the world's best in Grand Prix racing.

By the end of last week's Manx TT races, Honda had scooped up a first and a third in the 250cc class and a first in the 350cc. Incidentally, he had also become the world's biggest manufacturer of motorcycles. Early this month, the company started pilot production in Belgium. After only seven months of selling in Britain, Honda claims it has 40% of the 50cc market.

Soichiro Honda is the new Japanese tycoon: self-made, determined, with a touch of genius. He and men like Konosuke Matsushita of Matshushita Electric and Masaru Ibuka of the Sony Corporation are as different from the semi-feudal bureaucrats of the prewar zaibatsu cartel as today's Japanese economy is from prewar days.

Honda is 57, son of a blacksmith, and left school to be apprenticed to a garage in Tokyo. He says that he's been obsessed with speed ever since he can remember. Honda's early days after the war could hardly have been less impressive. He went into the motorcycle business in 1948 when he bought 2,000 surplus Japanese army petrol motors and fitted them on to the crossbars of ordinary bicycle frames.

As sales boomed, he incorporated the Honda Motor Company with a capital of £1,000 to begin full-scale motorcycle manufacturing.

After the Isle Of Man revelation, Honda scrapped his old two-stroke engines and developed a four-stroke, knowing that if he could give them a reputation in the racing world he would be able to develop his export markets. It took four years before he won his first major event in Japan.

All Honda's success has been built on sophistications of production techniques. His plants are more like watch factories than mass-production machinery plants. The entire purchasing, production and distribution systems are so integrated that plants have no stockpiles of finished products or raw materials. Each day's production moves directly from factory to dealer.

The company's 6,000 employees are among the highest paid in Japan. The average monthly wage is £26 13s (plus two annual bonuses and fringe benefits) compared with a nation-wide average of £23 06s. In common with other big Japanese firms, Honda is firmly paternalistic. Supplying housing, medical care and holiday resorts to its workers at nominal cost. The workers own 30% of the stock (Honda himself owns 10%) and two out of three own either a car or a motorcycle – far above the Japanese average.

Honda spends most of his time at a new £1.5m research centre. Spread over 26 acres, near the Saitama plant, where innovation goes on round the clock. The company spends an average £150,000 a month on research, which is one of the biggest research budgets in Japan. Much of it is directed at repeating Honda's success with motorcycles in other fields.

Honda is planning to market sports cars designed to attract teenage sports car enthusiasts in the United States. Conscious of the Grand Prix successes in promoting motorcycle sales, Honda is now engaged in a crash programme to develop a Formula II racing car with which he expects to surprise the racing world next year.

And more is on the way. Honda will announce its entry into the light plane market soon. The company has developed a plane which is expected to take a substantial share of the market now dominated by the United States.

It plans to establish a chain of private flying fields and aero clubs around Japan – eventually expanding abroad – which will give sales a practical, promotional boost. In the same way, the company has been busily creating interest in motorcycles by building Techniland parks throughout Japan, with racing tracks, hill-climbing facilities and novelty rides to keep the children happy – all employing Honda products.

A racing circuit has been built at Suzuka and Japan's first Grand Prix car race was held there in May this year. Nineteen of the world's top racing drivers were invited (at Honda's expense) to compete.

The Honda Motor Company is in a strong financial position by Japanese standards. Its capital has increased from £1,000 in 1948 to £9.9m in 1963 and its profits have never fallen below 20% cent of the paid-up capital.

Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2013/jun/16/observer-archive-soichiro-honda-1963-profile

Honda: The Centaur Motorcycle Commercial Video

Advertising Agency: DDB, France
Executive Creative Director: Alexandre Hervé
Creative Director: Alexander Kalchev
Copywriters: Alexander Kalchev, Alexis Benbehe, Pierre Mathonat
Art Directors: Alexis Benbehe, Pierre Mathonat
Account Supervisors: Mathieu Roux, Olivier Massanella
Advertiser's Supervisors: Richard Mathiau, Valerie Larousse
Production Company: Crac Director: Alexander Kalchev
First ADs: Antoine Levi, Florent Michel
Producer: Pierre-Yves Bronsart
Music: Clement Tery
DOPs: Benjamin Roux, Romain Alary
Sound Production: THE