Car to text pedestrians to 'get out of the way'

Soon, your Honda car will be able to communicate with a smartphone to avoid pedestrian accidents.

Honda has demonstrated two technologies that allow communication between a vehicle and a mobile phone, alerting both the pedestrian and the driver; and separately, another system that will alert a motorcyclist of a fast approaching automobile.

The Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) and Vehicle-to-Motorcycle (V2M) technologies are still in the research and testing phase.

Honda has uploaded a video demonstrating how the technology will work when it is deployed.

Honda cars will be equipped with Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology to detect a pedestrian with a DSRC-enabled smartphone.

This V2P technology uses cooperative communication between an individual's smartphone and nearby vehicles and provides both audio and visual warnings to both the pedestrian and drivers.

According to Honda, the system uses the pedestrian's smartphone GPS, its dynamic sensing capability and DSRC wireless technology in the 5.9GHz band and establishes communication between the pedestrian's smartphone and nearby vehicles to determine if the pedestrian is in danger of being struck by an oncoming car.

The system will be effective even when the pedestrian is not easily detectable by the driver.

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.
A similar system works on a V2V and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems as well.

Jim Keller, chief engineer for Honda R&D Americas, Inc, in his statement said that advanced collision sensing and predictive technologies being developed will in future Honda is developing to further reduce the potential for serious accidents, injuries and even fatalities.

While the system could greatly benefit both pedestrians and motorists in Europe and even the UAE, it should be seen how it could work in countries like India where traffic behavior is absolutely unregulated and both pedestrians and vehicles willfully violate rules.

A UAE-based Indian motorist when explained about the technology said, “It could be of great help in the UAE, but in India, my vehicle will be constantly bombarded with hundreds of alerts in a one-kilometre stretch on a busy urban road,” said Pannerselvam from Tamil Nadu.