Honda reveals Cooperative Mobility Ecosystem

Honda has unveiled its Cooperative Mobility Ecosystem concept at CES 2017 in Las Vegas connecting the power of artificial intelligence, robotics and big data to transform the mobility experience of the future and improve customers' quality of life. Featuring a number of prototype and concept technology demonstrations at CES, the Honda concept envisions a future where vehicles will communicate with each other and infrastructure to mitigate traffic congestion and eliminate traffic fatalities, while increasing the productivity of road users and delivering new types of in­vehicle entertainment experiences. Vehicles will create new value by providing services autonomously when not in use by their owners.

Supporting its 'Cooperative Mobility Ecosystem' theme, Honda unveiled the Honda NeuV, an electric automated concept car equipped with an artificial intelligence (AI) 'emotion engine' and automated personal assistant, creating new possibilities for human interaction and new value for customers.

Yoshiyuki Matsumoto, President and CEO of Honda R&D Co., says:

Since our founding, Honda has focused on creating technologies that help people, our goal is to showcase a future technology path that results in a redefined mobility experience.

Honda NeuV

Designed to create new possibilities for customers, the NeuV (pronounced 'new­v'), which stands for New Electric Urban Vehicle, is a concept vehicle whose genesis is based on the fact that privately­owned vehicles sit idle 96 percent of the time. The NeuV explores the idea of how to create new value for its owner by functioning as an automated ride sharing vehicle, picking up and dropping off customers at local destinations when the owner is not using the car. The NeuV also can sell energy back to the electric grid during times of high demand when it's not in use. These activities have the potential to create a new business model for enterprising customers.

Mike Tsay, Principal Designer, Honda R&D Americas, explains:

We designed NeuV to become more valuable to the owner by optimising and monetising the vehicle's down time.

NeuV also functions as a thoughtful and helpful AI assistant utilising an 'emotion engine', an emerging technology developed by Honda and SoftBank (cocoro SB Corp.). Called HANA (Honda Automated Network Assistant), in its application in the NeuV, the 'emotion engine' will learn from the driver by detecting the emotions behind the driver's judgements and then, based on the driver's past decisions, make new choices and recommendations. HANA can check on the driver's emotional well-being, make music recommendations based on mood, and support the owner's daily driving routine.

The NeuV features a full touch­panel interface enabling both the driver and passenger to access a simple and convenient user experience. The vehicle has two seats, a storage area in back, and an electric skateboard for 'last mile' transit. The NeuV also features outstanding outward visibility via a wrap­around panoramic windscreen and a dramatically sloping belt line that make manoeuvring easy.

Further Information

CES attendees can learn more and experience demonstrations of the Honda 'Cooperative Mobility Ecosystem' at the Honda booth (#7312) from January 5­8 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Videos, images and more details can be found at http://www.honda.us/CES2017.