We've often wondered what the people who used to be passionate about driving will do when all cars become autonomous. And Honda's recently unveiled Horn Emojis could be the perfect channel of outward expression.
There hasn't been a major updated to the way a vehicle horn works in years. What used to be a way to communicate danger is almost always used to express frustration with other drivers or even attraction towards members of the fairer gender.
Honda's system takes things a step further, allowing you more ways to communicate using the horn. The downside is that we're going to have to learn another language, the language of beeps.
Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is key to a future of autonomy and efficiency. But what you feel is just as important as where you're going, right? That's why the all-new 2018 Odyssey minivan is going to pioneer the field of driver-to-driver communication via honking.
"Horns have been around for over a century, but little has been done to make these sound-making devices a personal expression of the driver's emotions like we're doing with the all-new Honda Odyssey," said Alice Alerto, the Honda engineer in charge of horn development. "We have exhaustively researched and tested these new Honda Horn Emojis to offer the industry's most advanced in-vehicle technology in the minivan segment."
All the emojis are easy to figure out. Honda says that to make the most expressive sounds possible, it utilized data compiled by social scientists and audiologists. You get stuff like the Rush Hour Traffic emoji, which helps share the pain of being stuck in traffic with other drivers. There's also a way to say hello the neighbor.
Why is there a picture of a dog? Excellent question. The Honda Dog Emoji is mute to humans, but it warns canines of approaching vehicles. It might even work for somebody with a seeing eye dog.
Honda Horn Emojis were developed by Honda Dream Labs, the same people behind the HondaVac, the world's first in-car vacuum. Check it out in the video below.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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