Car companies love to say they got there first. It
appears Honda may be the first major automaker to show a concept vehicle
designed for the ride-sharing market. The NeuV, which was announced
Thursday at CES, is an acronym for the New Electric Urban Vehicle. NeuV
[noo-vee] is based on the premise that self-driving, electric cars can
be put to work rather than sitting idle nearly all the time.
Honda says the two-seat vehicle could be programmed to
pick up and drop off passengers when its owner isn’t using it, or to
sell back remaining energy to the grid. “We designed NeuV to become more
valuable to the owner by optimizing and monetizing the vehicle’s down
time,” Mike Tsay, principal designer, Honda R&D Americas, said in a
company statement.
Honda also used the concept to showcase a number of
interactive features and services. The NeuV uses an “emotion engine” and
an automated personal assistant. It studies driver’s reactions and
patterns using AI technology developed with SoftBank, and makes
recommendations on music and tips on daily driving habits. The
information is communicated through a touch screen. Honda also throws in
an electric skateboard in the NeuV storage compartment to go the last
mile.
Honda is joining in an industry trend: automakers are
spending R&D money focusing on what your car can do for you, beyond
what improves your driving experience in the car. Working with Visa,
Honda showed a demo for parking and refueling payments that can be made
from inside the car. The automaker has launched an additional
partnership with DreamWorks Animation to produce augmented and virtual
reality as part of its Honda Developer Studio and Honda Xcelerator open innovation programs.
It’s all part of a strategy that envision vehicles that communicate
with one another on the road to improve congestion and the productivity
of its customers. Honda, a big name in the motorcycle world, also showed
a self-balancing motorcycle that uses robotics to ensure that the
motorcycle stands upright while at rest, a technology it calls Ride
Assist. It’s intended to cut down on accidents.
Honda joins Hyundai, Toyota,
Ford, Audi, and BMW as automakers that have chosen CES to show off
their latest development strategies ahead of the North American
International Auto Show. But a vehicle that tells you what to do and how
to be more efficient could feel more like a boss than a friend, so its
“emotion engine” better be good.
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