Honda's launching the next step in navigation system evolution that will automatically warn drivers to be on guard when traveling through areas of high crime. The system is launching in Japan on Tuesday, but we haven't heard of any plans to bring it to the United States. It's probably for the best, as there'd be wide swaths of the country that this navi would recommend you avoid. Places like Washington DC, where crime is apparently legal and perpetrated by criminals with offices and staffs. Detroit might be marked with an avoidance warning too, but that's more likely due to Honda wanting to avoid a Jets-Sharks danceoff.
Honda's warning system uses historical data from the Japanese police to pinpoint areas where vehicle damage or theft has happened in the past. Areas then receive ratings based on the level of danger they pose to automobiles just passing through. We guess it could be useful for people who don't take notice of their surroundings when behind the wheel, but some of us may lump it in with other "safety" annoyances like self-locking doors.
[Source: AFP]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Matt Burns @ Apr 21st 2008 5:08PM
I hear it doesn't even know where Flint is.
Hell, it seems General Motors doesn't anymore either...
11800506 @ Apr 21st 2008 5:13PM
DC isn't that bad, you just have to stay out of certain areas like SE. It has its share of crime just like most cities, but it isn't that bad.
Red @ Apr 21st 2008 5:47PM
DC's really not that bad. But dayum it's got some big ass subway rats. The only rats that are bigger are in NY. They'll practically sit right next to you and ask you for spare change.
Chris @ Apr 21st 2008 5:18PM
Oh God. Just wait until the ACLU gets a load of this. "The car refused to take me to Harlem!"
Ray @ Apr 21st 2008 5:27PM
high crime spots in Japan? I can just see it now. Warning: A car was stolen here last year.
J Clay @ Apr 21st 2008 5:29PM
Stay clear of Detroit?!! I stay in the inner city of Detroit and I feel insulted. People always say how bad Detroit, and it is not nearly as bad as people stay it is. Whoever blog have no idea what kind of city Detroit really is.
Andrew @ Apr 21st 2008 5:31PM
Do you live in a bubble?! You can't tell me a drive west on Woodward from downtown after midnight doesn't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Get real, Detroit is a dangerous city.
JWMKE @ Apr 21st 2008 7:03PM
Are you kidding?
That One Person @ Apr 22nd 2008 5:27AM
You're crazy right? Heck, I lock my doors and roll up my windows when I go to Southwest Detroit at night.
Iridium @ Apr 21st 2008 5:58PM
If they base it off of Japanese crime statistics the entire US would be off limits. Maybe an isolated area of Montana would be OK.
Ray has it right. Sure the Japanese do have a decent ammount of organized crime but you don't have to worry about walking around at night. There was one murder in Japan when I was over there two years ago in the north. You would have thought allout war broke out from the media attention it got.
Murder isn't even news in the US anymore. You just expect to here about two to three killings every time you turn on the 6:00 news.
jv2k @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:48PM
True. Now if the navi warned people of possible rapes and gropes...
DetroitWhat @ Apr 21st 2008 6:20PM
That was a terrible joke. As a former Detroiter, I resent that joke.
Matt Burns @ Apr 21st 2008 6:34PM
Someone has the case of the Monday's.
Dude, it was a joke.
Arnie @ Apr 21st 2008 6:23PM
"Places like Washington DC, where crime is apparently legal and perpetrated by criminals with offices and staffs. Detroit might be marked with an avoidance warning too, but that's more likely due to Honda wanting to avoid a Jets-Sharks danceoff."
DC and Detroit? Racism on Autoblog! You are not supposed to talk about these things, didn't you know that? If crime isn't mentioned in the media it will go away!
Jason @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:03AM
Someone didn't understand the comment...
John @ Apr 21st 2008 6:35PM
If it's based on Japanese perceptions of high-crime areas, the cars won't even get on the boat to come here in the first place.
John @ Apr 21st 2008 7:48PM
It is bad areas in every major city, but don't stay steer away from the whole city as Detroit. That is being very dogmatist.
Tragedy @ Apr 21st 2008 7:56PM
WTF? I lived in Japan for 7 years. There are no 'high crime areas'. Is it going to warn me about girls from southeast Asian overstaying their Visas when I drive through East Shinjuku? Or will it warn me about a neighborhood that has a high level of train gropers? The Japanese view of 'crime' greatly differs from us yanks' view. The only violent crimes that happen in Japan are either one gangster wacking another, or a family man who decides to committ a murder-suicide with his family. With the rare case of some wacko going on a stabbing spree, you have nothing to worry about in Tokyo or anywhere else in Japan.
I know, I lived in Gotanda. The 2nd highest crime neighborhood in Tokyo, which probably has as much crime in a year than San Francisco has in a day, or less. And SF is a safe city.
Aaron @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:05AM
SF really isn't that sate
Brent @ Apr 21st 2008 8:11PM
Haha... the Real Estate agents are going to LOVE this. You can just imagine the family pulling up in their honda to the suggested house when the computer warns them about the neighborhood.
Ahhh... the future.