Gadgets and just Gadgets

Honda’s black box for carsSource

Aeroplanes come with black boxes, so why not cars? Apparently, that’s what Honda hopes to change with its Drive Recorder. The recorder will detect impacts and save information for the 12 seconds before and 8 seconds afterwards, aircraft black-box-style: forward-view imagery, along with sound and data on speed and deceleration rates all get stored on an SD card in its main unit, ready to be uploaded to a PC.

This information includes forward-view imagery, sound, speed data, and deceleration, all stowed away in an SD memory card within the Drive Recorder itself. Guess insurance agents and the authorities will have a much easier time pinpointing who is in the wrong in the event of a collision.

Its 135-degree field of view camera gets hung on your windscreen, with all the accelerometry going on inside the 4.5 x 3 x 0.8-inch black box itself. Honda hopes this system will turn you into a safer driver, though we imagine it might also make insurance claims a little more straightforward. You can also switch on recording just for the hell of it, and amuse your friends with a show later: “Hey, check out that braking after I missed the red light.” Available in Japan for ¥54,600 (around $500), and, sadly, only if you have an Honda car or your name is Jenny or Debra.

Tags: black box, honda, drive recorder