Welcome to Inspiration Friday: Zero road traffic casualties week #218! This is an interesting one this week and well worth the read if you are a driver, rider or pedestrian. Honda‘s human-machine interface with a goal of zero road traffic casualties by 2050 is inspiring, ambitious and disconcerting at the same time. Read on and decide, for yourself, if this is inspirational or dystopian.
First, this is not an opt-out system. Honda SENSING is standard on all Honda models since 2014, Honda SENSING 360 is the upgrade for Honda models in 2022. Each level is more….intrusive…to the rider, driver and Honda SENSING 360 will evolve into Honda SENSING 360 Human x AI by late 2020’s and finally Honda SENSING 360 Human x AI Connect by mid-2030’s. It’s goal is to slowly go from Risk Indicators, 3D Audio, Seatbelt Controls and Bio Feedback to “predict and simulate the behavior of road users”…. sounds like electric shock treatment!
The article doesn’t exactly explain HOW we will get to zero road traffic casualties by 2050 though other than pointing out “human error” must be eliminated and anything “Zero” is near impossible if you have a human riding or driving a vehicle. BMW is also striving towards the same goal as well and I’m suspecting we are looking at a future with autonomous short-range electric eBike’s that your “biologically plugged into” to ride and your eBike will require full communication with all IOT (internet of things) and smart devices (cars, pedestrians, traffic lights, police/fire systems, etc).
Summing up: 2014 Honda Sensing (you control the machine), 2022 Honda Sensing 360 (machine advises you), 2025 Honda Sensing 360 + Human x AI (your told by the machine) and 2035 Honda Sensing 360 + Human x AI x Connect (machine controls you).
So weird stuff right? Sadly, I don’t see an “opt-out” button if you want to ride and control your machine on your own, it’s full on sci-fi enabled. Now what they mean by “pedestrian human-machine interface”? Your guess is as good as mine there.
But it IS inspiring to think we won’t have traffic causalities in 2050 and companies like Honda, BMW and others are working towards that…
The cover photo is the devastating scene of the deaths of seven motorcyclists in a horrific head-on collision in northern New Hampshire and the SHOCKING result of the trail below! Hopefully this tragedy can be avoided in the future.
Total Motorcycle would like to thank Honda, BMW plus the hundreds of millions of motorcycle riders who visit TMW for inspiring us to bring you this week’s Inspiration Friday: Zero Road Traffic Casualties! Each week we bring you another Inspiring Motorcycle story to inspire you to get out and ride.
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Honda Introduces New Honda Sensing 360 System as Latest Step Toward Achieving Goal of Zero Traffic Collision Fatalities by 2050
October 13, 2021 — TORRANCE, Calif.
Honda Sensing 360 omni-directional safety and driver-assistive system expands sensory range around the vehicle effectively removing blind spots
Nearly 6 million vehicles on the road in the U.S. today now have the benefit of Honda Sensing® and AcuraWatch™ safety and driver-assistive technologies.
Global application of Honda Sensing 360 to begin in China in 2022 and will be standard on models in the U.S. by 2030.
Honda today announced plans to apply the next generation of its advanced suite of safety and driver-assistive technologies – Honda Sensing 360 – to all new Honda and Acura models in the U.S. by 2030. With an expanded sensory range around the entire vehicle, Honda Sensing 360 removes blind spots to enhance collision avoidance, while also reducing driver burden. The U.S. application of Honda Sensing 360 is part of a global strategy announced by Honda Motor Co., Ltd., that will begin in China, in 2022. The Acura version of Honda Sensing 360 will utilize the AcuraWatch™ system name in North America.
These latest safety advances reflect a global vision announced by Honda global CEO Toshihiro Mibe in April 2021, to strive for both zero traffic collision fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles globally by 2050 and carbon-neutrality for its products and corporate activities by 2050. More details about that announcement, are available here.
Since the U.S. introductions in 2014 of Honda Sensing® in the 2015 Honda CR-V, and AcuraWatch™ in the 2015 Acura TLX, application of these advanced safety and driver-assistive systems has expanded throughout the Honda and Acura lineups. Today, nearly 6 million vehicles on U.S. roads have the benefit of Honda Sensing® and AcuraWatch™ technologies.
“Honda Sensing 360 represents the next major step in what has already been an industry-leading application of safety and driver-assistive technologies,” said Gary Robinson, assistant vice president of Product Planning at American Honda Motor Co., Inc. “Honda will continue to advance our technologies to improve safety for everyone sharing the road and play a leading role in realizing a collision-free society.”
The suite of technologies in the respective Honda Sensing and AcuraWatch systems have continued to evolve, and the new Honda Sensing 360 will further advance their capabilities with an omni-directional sensory range made possible by the integration of inputs from five advanced millimeter-wave radar units around the vehicle, in conjunction with a monocular camera similar to that already used by the current Honda Sensing systems.
Honda Commitment to Safety
Based on its vision for a collision-free society, Honda is working to improve safety for everyone sharing the road, an approach Honda calls “Safety for Everyone.” The company operates two of the world’s most sophisticated crash-test facilities in Ohio and Japan and is responsible for numerous pioneering efforts in the areas of crashworthiness, collision compatibility and pedestrian safety.
Advanced passive safety features include Honda’s proprietary Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure and next-generation passenger front airbag technology, which are designed to provide a high level of collision protection for occupants. Advanced active safety and driver-assistive systems found in Honda Sensing® and AcuraWatch™ technologies, now on nearly 5 million vehicles on U.S. roads, are designed to reduce the frequency and severity of collisions while also serving as a technological and perceptual bridge to the more highly automated vehicles of the future.
HONDA UNVEILS IN A WORLD PREMIERE ITS ADVANCED SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES OF THE FUTURE TO MEET ITS GOAL OF ZERO VICTIMS IN ROAD ACCIDENTS BY 2050
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today unveiled a world premiere of the Advanced Safety Technologies of the Future that it is currently developing to achieve a society in which all of us who share the road we free ourselves from the risk posed by traffic accidents and enjoy the freedom of movement with complete peace of mind.
Honda will do its best to achieve the goal of “globally zero motorcycle and Honda car accident fatalities by 2050” using two key technologies. One of them is the first ” Intelligent Driver Assistance Technology” powered by artificial intelligence (AI) , which offers assistance adapted to the capacity and situation of each individual and designed to reduce errors and risks of driving. , so you can drive completely safely. The other is “Safety Network Technology “ (known as Safe & Sound Network Technology) , which connects all road users, both people as mobility products, making use of telecommunications, which allows predicting possible risks and helping people avoid them before an accident occurs.
- Achievement of the goal “zero victims of traffic accidents by 2050”
In its fight to achieve a society in which there are no traffic accidents among all those who share the road and represented by the global safety motto “Safety for all”, Honda researches and develops safety technologies both in the field of hardware and of the software .
In its quest to achieve an accident-free society, Honda will expand the introduction of the recently announced Honda SENSING 360, an omnidirectional safety and driver assistance system that will be incorporated into all models that go on sale in major markets this year. 2030. In addition, Honda will continue its efforts to expand the application of the motorcycle detection function and further enhance the functions of its ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) system.
In addition, Honda will continue to make progress in expanding the application of motorcycle safety technologies and offering road safety education technologies (Honda Safety EdTech) . Through these initiatives, by 2030 Honda will work towards reducing by half * 1 the victims of traffic accidents in the world involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles.
Additionally, Honda will strive to achieve the ambitious goal of achieving “zero traffic fatalities by 2050” by creating the safety technologies of the future in the shortest time possible.
- 1) Security adapted to each person:
Aim to achieve “zero human error” in driving with “Intelligent Driver Assistance Technology”
- Honda has uncovered the factors underlying human error in its study based on functional magnetic resonance imaging of the human brain *2 and the analysis of behaviors prone to taking risks.
- The system presupposes predictors of driving errors based on the information obtained through a driver monitoring camera and the patterns of driving maneuvers.
- This technology is being developed to allow every driver to mitigate driving errors and enjoy mobility without the anxiety component.
- Honda will work to make the underlying technologies applicable during the first half of the 1920s, with the goal of reaching practical application during the second half of the decade.
With the aim of revealing the underlying causes of driving errors that cause anxiety in drivers, Honda has carried out research and development initiatives of “technologies that understand people”, with an original method that uses fMRI or fMRI *2 .
In addition to the technologies for understanding human behavior and conditions that Honda has accumulated to date, the “Intelligent Driver Assistance Technology” unveiled today, the first technology in this field , uses ADAS sensors and cameras to recognize potential hazards around the vehicle, allowing the AI to detect driving hazards . At the same time, the AI will determine the optimal driving maneuvers in real time and offer assistance tailored to the cognitive state and traffic situation of each individual driver.
With state-of-the-art driver assistance features currently being researched and developed by Honda, Honda aims to deliver the new value of “error-free” safety and peace of mind that adapts to individual driving maneuvers and situations. individual driver, and takes them away from any possible risk .
<Three values that Honda will offer with its next-generation driver assistance technology>
- Zero errors in driving maneuvers (operational assistance):
the vehicle offers AI-based assistance to reduce diversions and avoid delay in operations.
- Zero monitoring or prediction errors (cognitive assistance): the vehicle communicates risks through visual, tactile and auditory stimuli.
- Technologies in the R&D phase: risk indicator, seat belt control and 3D audio
- Zero errors due to absent-mindedness and reckless driving (concentration assistance): the vehicle helps reduce driver fatigue or drowsiness
- Technologies in the R&D phase: biofeedback or stimuli through vibration in the backrest
2) Safe coexistence of all road users :
Implementation of “Secure Network Technology”, which connects all road users through telecommunications
- The system understands and recognizes the situation and environment of each driver and road user
- Thanks to the communication network, information on possible risks in the traffic environment is added to the server, and risks are predicted by reproducing the traffic environment in virtual space.
- The system derives the most appropriate support information, communicates it to each driver and encourages them to take action to avoid possible risks before they occur.
- Honda will accelerate industry-wide and public-private collaboration with the goal of standardizing the technology in the second half of the 2020s
In order to achieve a society in which mobility is “accident-free” for all road users, Honda is striving to create a “safety cooperative society” in which the use of of telecommunications allows those who share the road to stay connected and coexist.
“Safety Network Technology” will enable information about possible risks in the traffic environment, which is detected from information obtained from roadside cameras, on-board cameras and smartphones, to be aggregated on the server, in order to reproduce the traffic environment in the virtual space. In this virtual space, taking into account the conditions and characteristics of each individual driver, the system predicts and simulates the behavior of road users who face a high risk of accident. The system then derives the most appropriate support information to help users avoid risks.
Such support information will be intuitively communicated to car drivers, motorcycle drivers and pedestrians through a “cooperative risk HMI (human-machine interface)”, which will enable the system to encourage drivers to take measures to prevent accidents before they happen.
Honda, which intends to implement this technology in the real world after 2030, will build the system and complete verification of effectiveness in the first half of the 2020s , then accelerate public-private and industry-wide collaboration in order to standardize the technology in the second half of the decade .
- Comments from Keiji Ohtsu, President and Representative Director of Honda R&D Co., Ltd.:
“Honda, in its quest to completely eliminate mobility risks for all those who share the road, will offer safety and peace of mind to each and every driver as a new added value. By applying our safety technologies, which will embody this new added value, Honda will continue to strive for “zero road traffic casualties” involving Honda automobiles or motorcycles by 2050. We will further accelerate industry-wide and public-private initiatives to achieve a collision-free society in where all road users take care of each other and freedom of movement is possible”.
* 1 Halve road accident victims involving Honda motorcycles or automobiles by 10,000 units by 2030 instead of 2020.
* 2 Functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI (one of the methods for imaging areas of activity in the brain based on changes in blood flow).
* 3 Source: “Figures of victims of traffic accidents broken down by criminal type”, White paper on road safety in Japan, 2017
Federal investigators release report on NH crash that killed 7 motorcyclists
PORTLAND (WGME) – Federal investigators have released their report into last summer’s deadly crash in New Hampshire that killed seven motorcyclists. Maine witnesses describe seeing NH crash that killed 7 motorcyclists. That crash happened in June 2019 in Randolph.
The board found the probable cause was the truck driver crossing the center line, which occurred because of his impairment from use of multiple drugs.
NTSB: Pickup driver’s drug use critical in death of 7 bikers
The seven victims from the horrific crash in Randolph, NH Friday were released Sunday by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.
During a Sunday afternoon briefing, officials said autopsies of the victims showed they died as a result of blunt trauma.
The seven victims are from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Their names are: Michael Ferazzi, 62, of Contoocook, NH; Albert Mazza, 49, of Lee, NH; Daniel Pereira, 58, of Riverside, RI, Joanne & Edward Corr, both 58, of Lakeville, Mass., Desma Oakes, 42, of Concord, NH and Aaron Perry, 45, of Farmington, NH.
The seven victims of Friday evening’s crash in Randolph, NH were identified during a press briefing Sunday in Concord, NH. (NH Attorney General’s Office)
Members of the motorcycle community are already organizing help for the victims’ families through a GoFundMe Page.
A pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer collided with the group of 10 motorcycles around 6:30 p.m. Friday on U.S. 2, a two-lane highway in Randolph.
The pickup truck caught fire, and witnesses described a “devastating” scene as bystanders tried to help the injured amid shattered motorcycles.
UPDATE
Zhukovskyy found not guilty in NH crash that killed 7 motorcyclists
By The Associated Press
Aug. 9, 2022
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A jury on Tuesday acquitted a commercial truck driver of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in a horrific head-on collision in northern New Hampshire that exposed fatal flaws in the processing of license revocations across states.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 26, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, was found innocent on seven counts of manslaughter, seven counts of negligent homicide and one count of reckless conduct in connection with the June 21, 2019, crash in Randolph. Jailed since the crash, he appeared to wipe away tears as the verdict was read and briefly raised his index finger skyward before leaving the courtroom.
Jurors deliberated for less than three hours after a two-week trial during which prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy, who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine that day, repeatedly swerved back and forth before the head-on crash and told police he caused it. But a judge dismissed eight charges related to whether he was impaired, and his attorneys blamed the lead biker, Albert “Woody” Mazza Jr., saying he was drunk and not looking where he was going when he lost control of his motorcycle and slid in front of Zhukovskyy’s truck.
“Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. Our trial team did an excellent job and we firmly believe that the State proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a statement.
Zhukovskyy’s family, some of whom attended the trial, said in a statement they were grateful to God, the court and the defense attorneys for an “honest and fair trial.”
“Our family expresses its deepest condolences to the family and friends affected by this tragedy,” the family said. “Our son and brother are very honest and kind man. He would never have done anything to hurt anyone.”
Zhukovskyy, who was born in Ukraine, remained jailed as of late Tuesday afternoon. It is unclear when he might be released. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an immigration detainer on him after the crash and that was served on him following the verdict, said Ben Champagne, the superintendent at the Coos County Department of Corrections. He said ICE now has 48 hours to detain Zhukovskyy. A spokesman for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All seven motorcyclists killed were members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club. After the verdict, a member of the Marine group reached through Facebook declined to comment. Mazza’s father, also named Albert, said he was stunned.
“Killing seven people and he gets off. That is unbelievable,” said Mazza. He described his son as a “good man” who devoted much of his time to charity, and said it was wrong to pin blame on him.
“It doesn’t make much sense,” he said. “There are seven people dead. There are seven families affected. It’s strange that he didn’t get something.”
The motorcyclists who died were from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island and ranged in age from 42 to 62. They were part of a larger group that had just left a motel along U.S. Route 2 in Randolph.
Killed were Mazza, of Lee, New Hampshire; Edward and Jo-Ann Corr, a couple from Lakeville, Massachusetts; Michael Ferazzi, of Contoocook, New Hampshire; Desma Oakes, of Concord, New Hampshire; Daniel Pereira, of Riverside, Rhode Island; and Aaron Perry, of Farmington, New Hampshire.
In closing statements Tuesday morning, the two sides raised questions about who was more “all over the place”: the trucker accused of swerving back and forth across the road or the eyewitnesses accused of contradicting each other.
“Those witnesses were all over the place about what they recalled and what they claimed to have seen,” said defense attorney Jay Duguay.
Duguay also accused prosecutors of ignoring that their own accident reconstruction unit contradicted their theory that Zhukovskyy crossed into the oncoming lane. An expert hired by the defense, meanwhile, testified that the crash happened on the center line of the road and would have occurred even if the truck was in the middle of its lane because Mazza’s motorcycle was heading in that direction.
“From the beginning of this investigation, the state had made up their mind about what had happened, evidence be damned,” said Duguay, who also highlighted inconsistencies between witness accounts or when witnesses contradicted themselves.
In particular, Duguay suggested that the bikers “shaded” their accounts to protect Mazza and the club. Prosecutor Scott Chase acknowledged some inconsistencies but asked jurors to remember the circumstances.
“People were covering the dead, trying to save the barely living, comforting the dying. This wasn’t story time,” he said. “They were up here talking about some of the most unimaginable chaos, trauma, death and carnage that we can even imagine three years later. They were talking about hell broke open.”
Witnesses were consistent, he argued, in describing the truck as weaving back and forth before the crash. That behavior continued “until he killed people,” Chase said.
“That’s what stopped him. It’s not that he made some responsible decision to start paying attention or do the right thing,” he said. “The only thing that stopped him was an embankment after he tore through a group of motorcycles.”
Chase called the attempt to blame Mazza a “fanciful story” and “frivolous distraction,” while reminding jurors that Zhukovskyy, who didn’t testify at trial, told investigators “Obviously, I caused the crash.”
“He was crystal clear from the very beginning that he caused this crash,” Chase said. “That is what he said, because that is what happened.”
Zhukovskyy’s commercial driving license should have been revoked in Massachusetts at the time of the crash because of a drunken driving arrest in Connecticut about two months earlier.
Connecticut officials alerted the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, but Zhukovkskyy’s license wasn’t suspended due to a backlog of out-of-state notifications about driving offenses. In a review, federal investigators found similar backlog problems in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and at least six other jurisdictions.
