Many accidents are caused simply because a driver didn’t see another car or a pedestrian or object. The technologies laid out in Honda’s newly-filed patents aim at avoiding these issues. The result? Drivers would have what many are calling "superhuman vision" behind the wheel.
The first of the two patents looks to expand pedestrian detection. The current technology in this field is a system that senses pedestrians in front of the vehicle and responds by alerting the driver and automatically braking. Honda’s vision of future pedestrian detection technology would go beyond just intervening in dangerous situations. Cars would be equipped with a more high-tech sensor system that could detect multiple pedestrians at a time and display their locations on an augmented reality head-up display. This would eliminate the problems posed by blind spots, and allow drivers to monitor nearby pedestrians.
The second patent is for vehicle-to-vehicle communications, which works similarly to the pedestrian detection in that it would allow cars to communicate details of their positions to other cars. For example, if three cars were driving in a line, the car in back would know how far ahead the car in front is, and would be notified if the car started to slow. This could help prevent rear-end collisions caused by sudden braking.
It’s unclear how these technologies will develop in the near future, or if we will be seeing them applied to new Honda cars any time soon. However, what this does tell Honda shoppers is that the automaker is continuously working to find new ways to improve safety.
In the meantime, you can visit our Honda dealership in Phoenix to see the latest driver assist technologies on our new models.
