Honda Vehicles to Seamlessly Integrate Android Smartphone Features with Android Auto

 

 

 

 

• A Honda demonstration vehicle is on display June 25-26 at Google I/O, Google's annual developer conference in San Francisco, CA
• Honda vehicles featuring Android Auto will debut in 2015; models and trims will be announced at a later date
• Android Auto provides a seamless connection between compatible Android-powered smartphones and Honda's advanced, in-car connectivity systems

Building on a series of advancements aimed at improving the in-car technology experience for consumers, Honda will introduce select vehicles compatible with Android Auto™ in 2015. Honda is displaying a functional prototype at Google I/O 2014, the annual developer conference hosted by Google in San Francisco, CA. Honda and Acura models and trims compatible with Android Auto will be announced in the future.

To initiate Android Auto, Honda drivers will simply connect their compatible Android smartphone to the vehicle's USB port using the cable that came with their phone, allowing them to intuitively access supported apps and features using the car's in-dash display and voice controls. After connecting the compatible Android phone to their Honda vehicle, drivers will be able to "project" their smartphone experience onto the car's in-dash display, giving them access to apps and services that have been optimized for the vehicle environment.

"Honda's goal is to integrate the power and functionality of today's smartphones directly into our vehicles in a way that is seamless and intuitive for our customers," said Nick Sugimoto, senior program director for Honda Silicon Valley Lab. "By working collaboratively with Google and other technology companies, Honda will help millions of consumers around the world more easily and conveniently access their smartphones' content, data and features."

Honda is a founding member of the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), a group of automakers and technology companies committed to bringing the Android platform to cars. The company's open innovation lab, Honda Silicon Valley Lab, spearheads Honda's global interactions with technology companies like Google, as well as developers, to create cutting-edge products and customer experiences.

Honda has been an industry leader in equipping its vehicles with technologies that support customers' efforts to be more alert drivers, including the early introduction of hands-free telephone functionality, wide application of back-up cameras to 100 percent of automobiles by model year 2015, as well as other features. Further, Honda is raising awareness of the dangers of distracted driving through initiatives like the Honda "#ThumbsUp" campaign, which launched in April 2014.

About Honda
Honda established operations in America in 1959, and now employs more than 39,000 associates in its North American sales, R&D and manufacturing operations with a capital investment of more than $16.3 billion.

Based on its longstanding commitment to "build products close to the customer" Honda operates 16 major manufacturing facilities in North America, producing a wide range of Honda and Acura automobiles, automobile engines and transmissions, Honda all-terrain vehicles, power equipment products such as lawn mowers, mini-tillers and general purpose engines, and the HondaJet light jet, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

Eight Honda auto plants in the region, including four in the U.S., have the capacity to produce 1.92 million automobiles each year. In 2013, 94 percent of the Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. were produced in North America. Those plants today manufacture 11 different models, including four passenger cars and seven light trucks.

A fifth U.S. auto plant, the Performance Manufacturing Center, is under construction in Marysville, Ohio, and next year will become the exclusive global production location for the next generation Acura NSX.

Honda operates major research and development centers in the U.S. that fully design, develop and engineer many of the products Honda produces in North America.

From: http://www.honda.com/newsandviews/article.aspx?id=7808-en

Honda Leads Industry-First Development of Visualization Technology to Advance Study of Crash Test Simulations

In its constant pursuit of designing and building safer vehicles for all road users, Honda is pioneering the use of a groundbreaking new three-dimensional, crash-simulation visualization technology based on DELTAGEN, the leading high-end 3D visualization software by 3DXCITE (formerly known as RTT).
The technology takes the output from a commonly-used advanced simulation software package, known as LS DYNA CAE, and renders the event in a three-dimensional presentation. The visualization technology, which was first designed for use in the animation and film industry, enables Honda engineers to more easily study the results of a crash simulation, test different design approaches and implement design changes with greater speed and efficiency. 
Honda engineers are able to manipulate the rendering, rotate the view in any direction and strip away parts of the vehicle to isolate a section or component for more thorough analysis. The crash barrier can also be rendered transparent in the virtual environment so the immediate effects of a crash can be viewed from multiple points of view, including the driver's seat.
The visualization software was co-developed by Honda R&D Americas, Inc., the North American research and development arm of Honda, and 3DXCITE.
"With this technology, we have gained the potential to improve the quality of decision making and reduce the time required for finalizing a vehicle design by greatly increasing the ease of communicating and understanding the results of a crash test simulation," said Eric DeHoff, Technical Leader for CAE in the Crash Safety Group of Honda R&D Americas, Inc. "This tool will promote a more complete understanding of vehicle safety design amongst all engineers involved in our vehicle development process."
Honda engineers challenged developers at 3DXCITE to integrate the DELTAGEN software with Honda's existing LS-DYNA CAE crash simulation data to deliver a detailed 3D rendering of the simulation. Honda engineers provided detailed parameters of the tool and oversaw its development. 
"This technology would not have become a reality without the vision and leadership of Honda engineers," said Tom Celusnak, Solutions Architect for 3DXCITE.
"Past efforts at creating this kind of highly realistic rendering involved weeks of concentrated effort by engineers and rendering specialists and would result a single simulation with fixed viewing parameters," added DeHoff.  "With this new technology we can create and manipulate the simulation at the push of a button, and we can do it in hours instead of weeks."
Honda R&D has been utilizing LS-DYNA non-linear crash simulation technology since 1998 as part of its new-model development process and has used the technology to help develop new safety designs, including its next-generation Advance Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure, now being applied to every new Honda and Acura vehicle, and the innovative one-piece hot-stamped door stiffener ring first applied to the HRA-developed 2014 Acura MDX.  Today, as a result, Honda has more vehicles achieving an IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ rating than any other automaker, including the Honda Accord sedan and coupe, the Civic sedan, Odyssey minivan, Acura RLX sedan and Acura MDX sport-utility vehicle.
About Honda's Commitment to Safety
Honda has a long history of leadership in the development and application of advanced technologies designed to enhance the safety of all road users, including automobile occupants, motorcycle riders and pedestrians.  American Honda leads the industry in third-party crash test ratings, with more Honda and Acura automobile achieving top safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) than any other automaker.  The company is also broadly applying advanced driver-assistive technologies, such as Forward Collision Warning and Lane Departure Warning, to its product lineup.  Also, American Honda has applied rearview cameras as standard equipment to all of its light truck models and 95 percent of its passenger cars for model year 2014, and will achieve 100-percent application by 2015.
About 3DXCITE
3DXCITE software, solutions, and CGI services provide high-end 3D visualizations in real-time for high-impact storytelling across all media channels. Leveraging your source data, 3DXCITE opens up creative freedom to deliver emotional assets for digital, interactive marketing and sales experiences. From consulting to workflow to final visualization assets, 3DXCITE transforms engineering data into powerful visual experiences which we callengineered excitement. For more information, please go to www.rtt.ag.


originally from: http://www.honda.com/newsandviews/article.aspx?id=7806-en

Honda Civic Type R Concept to hatch in Geneva

As if the Geneva Motor Show isn't exciting enough, now we have word that a new version of a certain iconic Japanese hot hatch will make an appearance there in a few weeks time. Honda has announced that its Civic Type R Concept will be revealed during the show's media days, which take place March 4 and 5.

Since this is Honda we're talking about, we should point out that the "Concept" part of the Civic Type R's name is usually a bit of a misnomer. For the past few years, the Japanese automaker has made a habit of attaching "Concept" to the end of several near-production models in the name of drumming up auto show excitement. So really, this is almost certainly the next Civic Type R, a carwe've kind of already driven.

The latter car was a "development" model, but we aren't expecting a lot to change between it and the production model. As previously reported, a 2.0-liter, turbocharged engine should deliver north of 280 horsepower to the front wheels via a six-speed gearbox. Have a look up top at the sole image of the hot Civic released by Honda, and then scroll down for the official press release.

This post originally published here.

Latest Honda promo film is a Never Ending Race against emissions

A new Honda promotional video shows clips of a hazy, smog-choked Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s, and then gives the company credit for its lead role in cutting vehicle-emissions by a factor of one thousand since 1970. Self-serving? Sure. Then again, this LA-native reporter born in 1970 can't help but be somewhat appreciative.

The nearly five-minute video takes a tour through Honda history, showing the Japanese automaker using its experience designing race cars to help develop smaller engines such as its four-cylinder CVCC. An early proponent of California's Clean Air Act, Honda recounts its low-emissions history with the first production low-emission vehicle (the 1996 Civic) and the first production ultra-low-emission vehicle (the 1998 Accord), and says it's approaching "near zero emissions" for its new cars.

For anyone keeping track, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said late last year that Honda's 2013 model-year vehicles averaged an even 27 miles per gallon, and that's with a fairly limited number of hybrids and plug-ins sold. That number was up from its 26.6 mpg in 2012 and second only to Mazda's 27.5 mpg among the major automakers. The overall 2013 average was 24.0 mpg. Read Honda's press release here and check out the Honda video below.

This post was originally published here.

We all shoot for the stars with our New Year's Resolutions. Here's a post from the Washington Post about how to keep them:

Karen Cheng famously learned how to dance in a year in a viral YouTube video that racked up millions of views and adoring blog posts over the summer. But as it turns out, that was just the beginning for the 26-year-old San Franciscan. She also taught herself to play guitar and cello. And how to juggle. And how to design — so well, in fact, that she quit her job at Microsoft to become a professional designer full-time.

 Cheng’s accomplishments are, by any measure, pretty inspiring. But at this ambitious, optimistic time of year, they can also be instructive — particularly since, in the months since her video went viral, Cheng has become something of a self-improvement guru. She and co-founder Finbarr Taylor recently launched a start-up called Give It 100, a sort of social network for people to achieve their personal goals.

Cheng and I spoke over the summer about her dance-in-a-year project. We recently reconnected by e-mail to talk New Year’s resolutions, discipline and Cheng’s start-up. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

So first off, I know you’ve taught yourself a number of skills besides dancing. When did that start?

Karen Cheng: The first skill I learned was spinning a book on my finger. It was seventh grade and all the cool kids could do it, so I set out to learn. After about 20 hours of the book falling on the ground… I could do it (but that didn’t make me one of the cool kids unfortunately, haha). That was when I realized that things that look like magic are often just many hours of invisible practice.

Since then I’ve learned guitar, cello, singing, card tricks, juggling, unicycling, origami, public speaking and design. There’s something really rewarding about not knowing how to do something, practicing like crazy, and then being able to do it.

What inspired you to learn dance?

I saw a video on YouTube of a dancer doing crazy stuff. It looked downright supernatural.

How much time did you put aside for dancing each day?

At first my rule was “just dance five minutes a day.” Many days would be more, an hour maybe, but the five-minute rule helped keep the momentum going. Once I realized this was something I really loved, I started practicing more, about two hours a day.

You wrote over the summer that when it comes to learning a new skill or making a life change, “discipline is overrated.” What did you mean by that?

Honestly I think it’s about finding something you really love. I’ve tried so many things before — and have quit almost just as many. People tend to feel guilty when they give up a new hobby or don’t see it through, but it’s okay to quit. That will free you up to find something you really love. You have to be willing to try many things. When you find something you’re truly passionate about, it will prioritize itself.

 Do you have any tools or tricks that you use to stay on track? When we spoke in the summer you introduced me to an app called Lift. Which I still use!

I use Lift and I keep a dance journal where I write down what I’m working on every day and ideas on how I can improve. Taking video was a huge part of that. Many times I would think I wasn’t improving — it’s happening so gradually for you, you hardly notice. I would watch back old videos of me and be reminded — yes, I really have improved.

Okay, so let’s say my New Year’s resolution is that I want to lose 10 pounds, which is a pretty common goal. How would you recommend going about that?

I’d say, instead of focusing on the goal, focus on the habit. So instead of naming your challenge “I’m going to lose 10 pounds,” name your challenge “I’m going to the gym five days a week” or “I’m going to exercise every day for at least five minutes” or whatever you think you can stick to. The thing with losing 10 pounds is that you can’t fully control it, and so it can be demotivating when you don’t get immediate results. But exercising every day for five minutes — you have full control over that, and if you stick to it, you’ll inevitably reach your 10-pound goal.

So let’s talk about your new company, Give It 100. How does that work, exactly?

You choose something you want to get better at for 100 days and you share a 10-second video of your progress every day. You get a simple daily routine to stick to and you’re totally accountable because you have to upload a video as proof. Plus practicing has always been a solitary, lonely thing — and 100 changes that.

 I got the idea for 100 after my dance video went viral. I think there is something really compelling about seeing all the hard work that is usually invisible. When you see athletes or performers, you see them at the top of their game. You don’t see the invisible hard work they put in. You don’t see the moment they started, when they probably sucked. If you could see that, talent would be a lot less intimidating.

What’s the response been like so far?

We have 10,000 users so far. The best part is seeing people really make a difference in their lives, and becoming more confident. There are people doing all sorts of things: Exercising everyday, learning how to do a handstand, learning a new language, learning guitar, quitting bad habits like biting your fingernails. One of our users, Cynthia, islearning how to walk again after she was paralyzed from multiple sclerosis five years ago.

Inevitable last question: What are your resolutions for 2014?

Make 100 an even better place, dance every day and set a side time to practice creativity. You can actually see my resolutions here.

This story was originally posted here.

Winter Weather Car Care

It's been COLD out recently. Here's some quick winter tips to keep your ride in shape:

1. Go for the garage
Wind chills can suck the heat straight out of a warm engine and leave motor oil thick and more difficult for an engine to cope with. In the end, that also puts more strain on a battery that is already battling the elements.
Even an unheated garage will provide a buffer from the blustery winds, so while it may be a little longer walk to the back door, those few steps could keep you from spending several frustrating minutes with a car that can't contend with the conditions.


2. Use an engine block heater

For those who don't have a garage, an engine block heater can help take over some of the duties of warming up during extreme winter chills.
When temperatures drop to -20, the devices that only require a simple electronic plug can provide the extra bit of juice to heat up an engine block and help it turn over by keeping oil warm and helping the heater pick up the pace.
"[Oil] is like molasses, and the thicker it is, the harder it is for that engine to crank over because it's pulling all this heavy oil up," Drew Landaeta, of Bobby & Steve's Autoworld, explained.

 3. Buy a new battery, or pamper the one you've got.

Anyone who doesn't remember when they last replaced their car battery would probably do well to replace it, because they don't last forever and the harsh cold could be what causes an old one to give up the ghost.
"Three to five years is about the average age for a battery to fail in this climate, and that's the number one thing," Dmitry Zelenskiy, of AAA, told Fox 9 News.
Yet, even a battery that has a long life ahead of it can struggle in subzero temps, so bringing it inside for the night is a good way to make sure Mother Nature won't make you late.

4. Fill 'er up.

 Getting to a gas station and topping up the tank is a good way to make sure that fuel won't freeze, and it helps prevent the flammable vapor from condensing or worse, turning into to crystals. A good general rule to follow is to avoid going below a quarter of a tank any time the temperature takes a dip below zero.

 5. Top off tires.
 The physics of air pressure can put a car in park on cold days because for every 10 degrees the temperature drops, tires can lose about 1 pound of pressure per square inch.
Maintaining correct air pressure in cold weather is a challenge because air contracts the colder it gets, which also means that it will expand once temperatures rise again. So, it's important to check tire pressure regularly to make sure it's in the recommended pressure range.

6. Acquire some antifreeze.

 Although keeping an engine cool obviously isn't a Minnesotan's main concern right now, the water that keeps engines from overheating can freeze. Antifreeze will lower the freezing point of the coolant, and there are also antifreeze products for fuel lines.
"A lot of people already talked about if they're going to call in 'cold' tomorrow, so I'm preparing -- getting my Heet," Shayla Perkerewicz said.
Of course, even the most-prepared person can find themselves in an accident they never could have planned for. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety published an information pamphlet on how to survive in a car if the worst should happen. More information can be found below.

Thanks for reading!

This post originally published here.

April is National Car Care Month: Spring into Action

April is National Car Care Month and the Car Care Council reminds motorists to spring into action and follow 10 basic maintenance procedures to make sure their vehicles are running at peak performance for the summer driving season.

1. Check all fluids, including engine oil, power steering, brake and transmission as well as windshield washer solvent and antifreeze/coolant.
2. Check the hoses and belts to make sure they are not cracked, brittle, frayed, loose or showing signs of excessive wear.
3. Check the battery and replace if necessary. Make sure the connection is clean, tight and corrosion-free.
4. Check the brake system annually and have the brake linings, rotors and drums inspected at each oil change.
5. Inspect the exhaust system for leaks, damage and broken supports or hangers if there is an unusual noise. Exhaust leaks can be dangerous and must be corrected without delay.
6. Schedule a tune-up to help the engine deliver the best balance of power and fuel economy and produce the lowest level of emissions.
7. Check the heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system, as proper heating and cooling performance is critical for interior comfort and for safety reasons such as defrosting.
8. Inspect the steering and suspension system annually including shock absorbers, struts and chassis parts such as ball joints, tie rod ends and other related components.
9. Check the tires, including tire pressure and tread. Uneven wear indicates a need for wheel alignment. Tires should also be checked for bulges and bald spots.
10. Check the wipers and lighting so that you can see and be seen.
11. Check that all interior and exterior lighting is working properly and replace worn wiper blades so you can see clearly when driving during precipitation

This blog was originally posted here: http://www.carcare.org/2013/04/april-is-national-car-care-month-spring-into-action/