Future Hondas Will Be Able To See Through And Around Buildings

Honda has been developing a system called ‘Smart Intersection’, which is designed to reduce vehicle collisions at intersections, in partnership with the City of Marysville based on vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication tech.

The Japanese car maker held a demonstration of its new system, which seeks to address the limitations of on-board vehicle sensors in addressing traffic collisions at intersections. Roughly 40 percent of all crashes take place on intersections, accounting for 20 percent of the 35,000 traffic-related deaths each year in the United States.

The ‘Smart Intersection’ system uses Honda’s proprietary object recognition software, combined with intersection-mounted cameras and V2X communications, enabling the car to virtually see through and around buildings and walls.

“Honda believes that V2X technology is an essential component of a smarter and safer transportation ecosystem and can play a role in our dream for a zero-collision society,” said Ted Klaus, vice president of strategic research at Honda R&D Americas. “By partnering with the City of Marysville and the State of Ohio, we believe this research will give us a better understanding of how V2X technologies can be further advanced and most effectively deployed for the benefit of all road users.”

The system involves four cameras mounted above the traffic lights at each corner of the intersection, which capture bird’s-eye-view video of the surrounding vehicles and pedestrians out to a 300-foot range.

Honda’s software then turns the camera feed into a 360-degree image of the intersection, classifying vehicles and other moving objects, like pedestrians, and broadcasts the information to surrounding vehicles via a dedicated short-range communication signal (DSRC). Honda is committed to using 200 connected vehicles for evaluation in the project.

“The City of Marysville is appreciative of our rich history with Honda of America and we are committed to our partnership with them to support their development and testing of autonomous and connected vehicles,” said Marysville Mayor J.R. Rausch.  “We are proud they chose Marysville to deploy this Smart Intersection technology here.”