A Honda that earns you money in ‘downtime’

HONDA has worked out that most privately owned cars sit parked doing nothing for 96 percent of their lives, and has come up with an enterprising new way to make owners money during all that idle time.

The NeuV (pronounced New Vee) is an all-electric concept car that not only operates with Level Four autonomy (meaning it needs no help from a driver to scoot around town), but can nip off to perform Uber-like duties when you’re not using it. And, if raking in the dough as a taxi boss isn’t enough, it can also sell some of its battery power back to a city’s electricity grid in times of high demand.

The NeuV was recently revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where Artificial Intelligence overtook Autonomy as the new buzzword on automotive stands, and Honda’s been doing homework in this department too.

Built into the tiny two-seater runabout is an onboard AI secretary named Hana (Honda Automated Network Assistant), who’s represented by an Emoji-like icon in the NeuV’s full-width digital dashboard. Hana can judge your mood based on facial expressions and recommend some soothing Norah Jones songs to calm your temper in traffic or Megadeth to wake you up in the morning.

She’ll also learn your favourite hangouts and advise stops at your local pub (or coffee shop) if you’re feeling stressed.

Remember, there’s no need to worry about getting tipsy, because the NeuV can drive you home by itself.

There’s also an electric ‘last mile’ skateboard mounted in a storage space at the back for those times when a parking spot isn’t in close proximity to your final destination’s front door.