Honda taps Uber Eats Japan for motorcycle app trial

MANILA: Honda Motor Company Limited’s motorcycle arm will conduct a joint demonstration test of its motorcycle safety riding assessment smartphone app with Uber Eats Japan.

According to the car and motorcycle manufacturer, the initiative will be carried out as part of the “Uber Eats Safe Driving Campaign,” organized by Uber Eats Japan for its motorcycle delivery partners. 

Likewise, the development of a safety riding assessment smartphone app for motorcycle riders falls in line with the marque’s aim to reduce global traffic collision fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and automobiles by half by 2030, and its ambitious goal of “zero traffic collision fatalities” by 2050.

“By combining the visualized results of an app-based riding behavior assessment with Uber’s unique incentive program, the two companies will verify the effectiveness of the assessment and the incentives in enhancing safety awareness and improving the riding behavior of Uber motorcycle delivery partners,” Honda wrote in a press release. 

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How it works 

Per Honda, Uber Eats Japan riders who applied to participate in the “Uber Safe Driving Campaign” will be eligible for the program.

The app will collect data from the riding behavior of each participating delivery partner while making deliveries—later to be analyzed and assessed. These include acceleration, braking and steering. Once processed, these pieces of information will be displayed as safe riding scores.

Since the above behaviors are not easily recognized by riders, visualizing them as riding scores could help them improve their riding habits. 

In addition, by incorporating the score-based ranking and/or incentive systems, the two companies will aim to help more riders to develop and maintain good riding behavior for enhanced safety.

While others may argue that collecting accurate data using only a smartphone is difficult, Honda will employ an in-house technology that combines vehicle data accumulated by Honda and statistical processing to extract vehicle dynamics data that accounts for motorcycle-specific riding characteristics—enabling highly accurate riding assessment using only a smartphone.

Further, the accuracy of the trial is enhanced by the assessment logic Honda developed using the expertise of instructors at Traffic Education Centers Honda around the world, as well as the accumulated data of real-world riding done by Honda’s own test riders who support motorcycle product development.

Will it make sense in PH? 

Having a visual representation of one’s riding behavior can actually help improve one’s habits. Probably some tweaks to the app, to suit the road conditions in the Philippines, could make it into a viable—and enforceable—system.

It is no secret that one of the major causes of incidents on the road are motorcycle riders who take their motorbikes to the streets without proper gear and training. By scaling this app, it might actually help reduce crashes on our roads. 

Honda has noted that the app can be used regardless of a motorcycle’s brand and model, therefore opening its use-case for almost every rider in the country.

While it is yet to reach the Philippines, Honda Philippines Incorporated runs training programs at the Honda Safety Driving Center in Paranaque.

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