#Honda's Self-Driving NeuV #Concept Reads Emotions, Drives Strangers To Work [Auto Styling News]

Honda has unveiled the self-driving electric NeuV concept at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that's part AI, part robotics, and part Uber.

The NeuV concept (pronounced "new-v" and stands for New Electric Urban Vehicle) was designed around the fact that privately-owned vehicles sit idle 96 percent of the time, while the owner sleeps, works or is otherwise away from the car. The NeuV seeks 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 isn't using the car.

Yes, you read that correctly. Your car will drive around and pick up strangers while you're at work. Amazing. And kinda scary. But if this self-aware UberBot can make money on the side (and shares it with us!) then who are we not to embrace this change.

The NeuV also can sell energy back to the electric grid during times of high demand when it's not in use. These actions alone have the potential to create a new business model for enterprising customers who want to "monetize" their cars, says Honda.

The two-seater also functions as helpful Artificial Intelligence assistant, using an "emotion engine", an emerging technology developed by Honda and SoftBank.

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 judgments 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.

One pictures HANA saying, "You look really agitated by this heavy traffic, Dave. Can I take over the wheel for a bit?"

The NeuV features a full touch panel interface enabling both the driver and passenger to access a simple and convenient user experience.

So, how does the NeuV look?

In shape, one could make comparisons to any number of city car concepts, most recently the Swiss Rinspeed Oasis (debuting at the same show) and the Russian "Mirrow Provocator." Basically, both are really, really square. The boxy Scion IQ also comes to mind, from the front, anyway, as does the VW "BUDD-e" electric van concept, in style as well as in its pretensions to tech supremacy.

The two-seater has a good-sized storage area in back, and an electric skateboard for "last mile" transit, which in the concept, hangs in the back window like a shotgun in a country boy's pickup truck.

Outstanding outward visibility is achieved by a headerless windshield and a dramatically sloping belt line that is said to make maneuvering easy. (I say "said to" because this is so obviously a one-off that wont' see production in this decade that's all speculation how it drives.

The rear features tail lams that are, um, dramatic (to say the least.) They make anything Volvo has ever done seem TAME by comparison. Arching over both the sides and top of the rear "lip" these LED lights are sure to make it abundantly clear that its coming to a halt. Heck, it will be clear to the entire city it's driving in!

It's obvious to everyone that Syd Mead - the Visual Futurist for the 1982 film classic "Blade Runner," was prescient about the direction of vehicles by the end of the Twenty-Teens. Like, Nostradamus prescient!