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Smart driving assistant developer Drivemode acquired by Honda R&D

The Bridge The Bridge
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See the original story in Japanese. Honda R&D, the research and development-focused subsidiary of the Japanese automotive giant, announced on Monday that it has acquired full stake in Drivemode, the US-based startup developing smart driving assistant technology, for an undisclosed sum. The two companies will join forces to develop connect mobility services at Digital Solution Center, a newly developed facility in Honda R&D. They have been working together since 2015 sice the Honda Xcelerator open innovation program. Since its launch back in 2014, Drivemode secured seed funding from Tokyo-based Incubate Fund and then launched an Android app under the same name which allows drivers to control their cars without watching the screen of the app. Prior to launching Drivemode, the startup’s founder Yokichi Koga previously worked at a Boston-based VC as a director and then car-sharing startup Zipcar as an advisor.  

drivemode_featuredimage

See the original story in Japanese.

Honda R&D, the research and development-focused subsidiary of the Japanese automotive giant, announced on Monday that it has acquired full stake in Drivemode, the US-based startup developing smart driving assistant technology, for an undisclosed sum.

The two companies will join forces to develop connect mobility services at Digital Solution Center, a newly developed facility in Honda R&D. They have been working together since 2015 sice the Honda Xcelerator open innovation program.

Since its launch back in 2014, Drivemode secured seed funding from Tokyo-based Incubate Fund and then launched an Android app under the same name which allows drivers to control their cars without watching the screen of the app.

Prior to launching Drivemode, the startup’s founder Yokichi Koga previously worked at a Boston-based VC as a director and then car-sharing startup Zipcar as an advisor.

 

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Honda’s popular video app RoadMovies surpasses 3M downloads

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Back in August we featured Honda’s mobile video app RoadMovies, which at the time was the top-ranked photo app in Japan. Ever since then the app has continued to do well in its home market in Japan, but also in South Korea too, where it has been a top–5 mainstay in the iOS photo category. Just recently it was announced that RoadMovies has surpassed the 3 million downloads milestone, this according to Nikkei Business. Personally, I’m a big fan of the app, and I still use it regularly. Honda’s original intention may have been for people to use their app to document road trips (especially using the interval camera feature), but my guess is that people are using it for all kinds of purposes. I’m using it to make short home movies of my baby, for example. To summarize what the application does, it allows you to record many short clips that can then be conjoined to make a 24-second video with filter effects and right-free background music applied. As you can see in the sample video below (posted to YouTube), the result is beautifully retro and fun. If you’d like to give RoadMovies a try, you can get it…

honda-roadmovies-icon

Back in August we featured Honda’s mobile video app RoadMovies, which at the time was the top-ranked photo app in Japan. Ever since then the app has continued to do well in its home market in Japan, but also in South Korea too, where it has been a top–5 mainstay in the iOS photo category.

Just recently it was announced that RoadMovies has surpassed the 3 million downloads milestone, this according to Nikkei Business. Personally, I’m a big fan of the app, and I still use it regularly. Honda’s original intention may have been for people to use their app to document road trips (especially using the interval camera feature), but my guess is that people are using it for all kinds of purposes. I’m using it to make short home movies of my baby, for example.

To summarize what the application does, it allows you to record many short clips that can then be conjoined to make a 24-second video with filter effects and right-free background music applied. As you can see in the sample video below (posted to YouTube), the result is beautifully retro and fun.

If you’d like to give RoadMovies a try, you can get it for free from the App Store.

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RoadMovies creates cool retro videos, is now Japan’s top iPhone app

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Here’s another intriguing addition to our growing list of Japanese camera apps. This time it comes courtesy of the folks at Honda, and despite the name of the app, RoadMovies, it’s not just for use while driving. Originally launched late last year, the app has been climbing the iOS charts ever since, and is now the top free app in Japan. It also tops the photo and video category in Korea right now too. The app allows you to shoot a collection of very short video clips – either 24 x 1 second, 12 x 2 seconds, or 8 x 3 seconds – which are then stitched together to create a composite 24 second clip. Of course, this sort of function would work especially well while driving on a long road trip, and there’s an interval camera function that can automate the entire process if you don’t want to press the shutter button manually. You can set the interval settings to record a short clip every minute, or every 60 minutes, or any value in between. There’s also a handy distance interval function that lets you record clips after you’ve moved a specified distance, although you’ll need a GPS enabled…

Here’s another intriguing addition to our growing list of Japanese camera apps. This time it comes courtesy of the folks at Honda, and despite the name of the app, RoadMovies, it’s not just for use while driving. Originally launched late last year, the app has been climbing the iOS charts ever since, and is now the top free app in Japan. It also tops the photo and video category in Korea right now too.

The app allows you to shoot a collection of very short video clips – either 24 x 1 second, 12 x 2 seconds, or 8 x 3 seconds – which are then stitched together to create a composite 24 second clip.

honda-roadmovies-icon

Of course, this sort of function would work especially well while driving on a long road trip, and there’s an interval camera function that can automate the entire process if you don’t want to press the shutter button manually. You can set the interval settings to record a short clip every minute, or every 60 minutes, or any value in between. There’s also a handy distance interval function that lets you record clips after you’ve moved a specified distance, although you’ll need a GPS enabled device for this (i.e. it won’t work with an iPod Touch).

After you’ve shot your 24 total seconds of video, you can then opt to add one of eight available filters to give your composite clip some extra pop. The next step is perhaps the most fun, as you can choose one of 14 available background music tracks included in the app, all of which are pretty snazzy.

The overall effect is super retro, especially if you apply a filter. For a preview of the end result, you can see many examples of videos created with RoadMovies over on YouTube. Or you can check out Honda’s own promo video above which demonstrates how it works, with a sample video at the end.

If you’d like to check out RoadMovies, it’s available as a free download over on the App Store. From what I’ve seen of it so far, I recommend you pick it up.

movie-type-roadmovies roadmovies

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Honda’s innovation history in a magical 2-minute video

Yukari Mitsuhashi Yukari Mitsuhashi
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Japanese automotive giant Honda is generally considered to be an exceptional company because of its principles and lean manufacturing. From motorcycles to cars to robots — the series of innovations that Honda has produced over the years is pretty astounding. To showcase its past achievements, the company has released a magical two minute video product history. It’s called ‘Hands.’ The video appropriately starts with the line, “Let’s see what a curiosity can do”. The Honda Supercub motorcycle (featured early in the video) was released back in 1958, and has sold a total of over 6o million by 2008. Honda’s Civic started selling back in 1972 and was the first car ever in the world to be accredited under the USA’s Clean Air Act (Muskie Act). And there there is Asimo, Honda’s humanoid robot which debuted in the year 2000. The latest model was released in November of 2011, lighter by 6 kilograms and with an improved walking speed of 9 kilometers per hour. To see more of what Honda engineers have brought to the world, check out the video below.

Honda-Hands

Japanese automotive giant Honda is generally considered to be an exceptional company because of its principles and lean manufacturing. From motorcycles to cars to robots — the series of innovations that Honda has produced over the years is pretty astounding.

To showcase its past achievements, the company has released a magical two minute video product history. It’s called ‘Hands.’ The video appropriately starts with the line, “Let’s see what a curiosity can do”.

The Honda Supercub motorcycle (featured early in the video) was released back in 1958, and has sold a total of over 6o million by 2008. Honda’s Civic started selling back in 1972 and was the first car ever in the world to be accredited under the USA’s Clean Air Act (Muskie Act).

And there there is Asimo, Honda’s humanoid robot which debuted in the year 2000. The latest model was released in November of 2011, lighter by 6 kilograms and with an improved walking speed of 9 kilometers per hour.

To see more of what Honda engineers have brought to the world, check out the video below.

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Honda begins trials of anti-traffic jam app in Jakarta

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Japanese auto maker Honda started testing a trial version of its Android app in Indonesia yesterday, in an effort to reduce traffic jams in the country. The company distributed the app to 100 people including Jakarta police officers and local Honda employees. They will collect feedback after a three-month public road test. Jakarta is known for its heavy traffic since the country’s economy and car usage has been growing rapidly. Prior to this trial, Honda deployed the app on 14 cars which usually run on expressways in Indonesia, conducting tests from September of 2012 to February of 2013. The test yielded positive results in terms of improving traffic, potentially delaying a traffic jam by six minutes in some cases. Takamasa Koshizen, the project leader at the Honda Research Institute, explains: The app encourages a driver not to accelerate or decelerate suddenly, thus helping other drivers maintain almost same speed and keeping traffic clogging up. In addition to improving the flow of traffic, if you drive according to the app’s instructions, you can save more than 20% on fuel consumption. Jakarta police expect that the app may also help people drive in a better manner. Honda is planning to integrate the…

honda_trafficapp

Japanese auto maker Honda started testing a trial version of its Android app in Indonesia yesterday, in an effort to reduce traffic jams in the country. The company distributed the app to 100 people including Jakarta police officers and local Honda employees. They will collect feedback after a three-month public road test.

Jakarta is known for its heavy traffic since the country’s economy and car usage has been growing rapidly. Prior to this trial, Honda deployed the app on 14 cars which usually run on expressways in Indonesia, conducting tests from September of 2012 to February of 2013. The test yielded positive results in terms of improving traffic, potentially delaying a traffic jam by six minutes in some cases.

Takamasa Koshizen, the project leader at the Honda Research Institute, explains:

The app encourages a driver not to accelerate or decelerate suddenly, thus helping other drivers maintain almost same speed and keeping traffic clogging up.

In addition to improving the flow of traffic, if you drive according to the app’s instructions, you can save more than 20% on fuel consumption. Jakarta police expect that the app may also help people drive in a better manner. Honda is planning to integrate the app with its interactive intelligent car navigation system, Inter Navi.

(Via Nikkei IT Pro)

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