Honda Thinks Smartphones Can Save Pedestrians From Bad Drivers

by Damon Lavrinc of www.wired.com

Smartphones are too often a colossal distraction to motorists, but Honda sees a way of using them to protect pedestrians from inattentive drivers.

The automaker hopes to tap into pedestrians’ phones to alert passing drivers to their presence. The technology — dubbed Vehicle-to-Pedestrian — uses a smartphone’s GPS and dedicated short range communications (DSRC) to warn drivers when a pedestrian steps out from behind a parked car or other obstruction. A light flashes on the dashboard to tell the driver of an approaching pedestrian, while the hapless walker gets an alert on their smartphone.

The DSRC system can be deployed through a dedicated app with the technology operating on the 5.9GHz band set aside for automotive applications. Honda’s not alone in pursuing this. General Motors is using the same tech to develop its own pedestrian detecting technology. But Honda is taking it a step further. In addition to the pedestrian detection tech, Honda is also testing Vehicle-to-Motorcycle systems using the same DSRC to alert drivers of a motorcycle outside their field of vision.

Honda is joined by several other automakers working with the University of Michigan through the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation on the technology, and if all goes well, these systems could be deployed in the next several years.

Source;
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/09/honda-pedestrian/

Honda launches Honda Assistance App

Honda has launched its new Honda Assistance App for smartphone users making it easier to contact roadside assistance. 
 
No-one likes getting stuck at the side of the road but this new Honda Assistance App should help Honda owners get assistance quicker.

Whether your car has been involved in a road traffic accident or your car has broken down this app will remove some of the stress with its ease of use. There is no need to search for the right phone number or try to pinpoint an exact location - the Honda Assistance App does all this for you.

The free App is suitable for iPhone, Blackberry and Android operating systems and is available through online app stores now.

Developed in conjunction with the AA motoring organisation, several other features have been incorporated into the App. All are designed to be of benefit to the customer and includes five higlights.

Breakdown and Accident Assistance routes the caller through to Hondacare Assistance.

Honda Happiness Insurance is where customers can request a quote for cover, or retrieve an existing one.
AA Roadwatch keeps you updated with the latest traffic updates and news of delays to their journey.

My Details: where personal information is stored, making it easy for the call handler to contact them.
My Reminders: to alert the customer when their MoT, service, insurance or extended warranty is due.

The new Honda App can be downloaded free of charge from Blackberry 'App World', Apple 'App Store' and Android 'Google Play Store'.

Source;
http://www.motortorque.com/car-news/honda-launches-honda-assistance-app-22073.aspx

Honda app can sense traffic jams before they hit

During a test in Indonesia, the smartphone application increased average vehicle speeds and fuel economy in heavy traffic.

by Clifford Atiyeh of www.msn.com auto's section

Honda has a smartphone application it says can predict traffic congestion and help prevent drivers from causing bottlenecks.

We've all experienced bottlenecks -- so named after the curves of the glass Coke bottle -- due to rapid slowdowns in a certain spot that cause traffic to build up steadily from behind, whereas in front it's relatively free-flowing.

Honda's smartphone app monitors the patterns of a driver's acceleration and deceleration over time and then predicts if a certain pattern, such as heavy braking, is likely to cause a traffic jam. It then coaches the driver with colors, just as many Hondas do on the instrument panel for achieving the best fuel economy, with the goal of smoothing out abrupt acceleration and braking.

Often, drivers leave little space between vehicles on congested roadways, which causes spikes in speed --  a main condition for those annoying bottlenecks.

Honda tested the app in Jakarta, Indonesia, between September and February on both a single car and as a cloud-connected network of cars running the same app. With just one car running the app, traffic jams were delayed by an average of three minutes and changes in the average speed were reduced by 60 percent. More importantly, fuel economy was improved by 20 percent. When connected to the cloud, congestion was delayed by an average of four minutes, speed changes were reduced by 70 percent and fuel economy went up 22 percent.

While many cars feature live traffic alerts and can overlay navigation maps with color-coded lines that show how fast traffic is moving on a certain route, no production system exists to stop traffic before it starts. Of course, Honda's system can't eliminate traffic -- anyone who's been to Mexico City, Mumbai or any crowded city knows that's impossible -- but friendly in-car reminders could at least dull some of the pain.

The app is not yet available, but Honda said it would eventually embed the system on future models, including a special version for its motorcycles that could send vibrating alerts to the rider.

Source;
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/autosblogpost.aspx?post=2f410e99-6239-4d5f-82f7-d28ef21d4743