Getting cars to talk to one another through vehicle-to-vehicle networks has a raft of safety benefits, but Honda came up with something far more imaginative, allowing one car to "tow" another – no chains required.
At the Intelligent Transport Systems show in Detroit, Honda showed off a Virtual Tow feature that would allow one car to convoy behind another if the driver fell ill and wasn't able to drive.
After pressing an SOS button, the car would move over to the shoulder and stop, then send out a message to other V2V-equipped vehicles that the driver needs assistance. Once a good samaritan is located, he'd pull in front of the other car, link up over the V2V network, and the affected driver and his car would follow closely (and slowly) behind to a safe destination, like a fire department or hospital.
The system relies on both the driver being able to push a button and the kindness of strangers, but it's an interesting implementation, although Honda isn't saying when it – or its larger V2V strategy – would be deployed.