Honda Dream Drive to Deliver Next-Generation Infotainment, Commerce, Services and Rewards to Drivers and Passengers

- Honda Innovations collaborates with leading consumer brands and retailers to create new in-vehicle experience

- Demos of prototype mobile-based dashboard at CES 2019

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Jan 08, 2019, 08:00 ET

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Delivering on customer expectations for the full integration of mobile services into the vehicle experience, Honda is demonstrating its prototype Honda Dream Drive, the automotive industry's first integrated driver and passenger infotainment, commerce, services and rewards dashboards within the vehicle environment. First shown as a concept at CES 2017, Honda Dream Drive has evolved to offer drivers and passengers a broad range of convenient services and engaging entertainment options, while minimizing the potential for driver distraction. Developed in collaboration with Connected Travel, a connected vehicle platform and application services company, Honda is offering demos of Honda Dream Drive in the all-new 2019 Honda Passport at its CES booth #7900 in the North Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Jan. 8-11, 2019.

Honda Dream Drive: Passenger app offers passengers the ability to play mixed reality games, watch movies, listen to music, read original comics stories, use travel applications, explore new points of interest along the route, and control the radio and cabin features – all from the passenger’s mobile device.

Honda Dream Drive: Driver app enables drivers to pay for goods and services like fuel, movie tickets and parking, make restaurant reservations, order food for pickup or delivery, and even share the driver’s location with friends and family.

Watch video of Honda Dream Drive at https://Honda.us/DreamDrive

The new prototype mobile-based dashboards provide services and experiences designed specifically for both drivers and passengers:

Honda Dream Drive: Driver demonstrates the expansion of Honda's in-vehicle payment technology concept, first introduced at CES 2017 with Visa. It enables drivers to pay for goods and services like fuel, movie tickets and parking, make restaurant reservations, food ordering for pickup or delivery, and even share the driver's location with friends and family.
Honda Dream Drive: Passenger offers passengers the ability to play mixed reality games, watch movies, listen to music, read original comics stories, use travel applications, explore new points of interest along the route, and control the radio and cabin features – all from the passenger's mobile device.

Moreover, customers will have access to purchase Honda Dream Drive content, movie or event tickets, order ahead, and a variety of other convenience options provided by Honda's collaborators.

"Honda has teamed up with industry leaders who want to understand how to best provide in-vehicle services to our customers," said John Moon, managing director, Strategic Partnerships, Honda Innovations. "These collaborations are important to test consumer desire so we can understand how to mutually serve our customers."

Partnering with leading brands on voice-enabled driver applications

Honda Dream Drive is both voice and touch enabled, providing users with convenient, safe and easy access to services. Honda collaborated with a host of industry leaders – Atom Tickets, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®, Grubhub, Glympse, iHeartRadio, IPS Group, Arrive, Parkopedia, Phillips 66, Yelp, and USAA – for its voice enabled, driver dashboard for parking, gasoline payment, restaurant reservations, ticketing, audio, location sharing, and rewards.

"We're constantly looking at market-leading channels to deliver the Atom Tickets experience to consumers," said Matthew Bakal, chairman and co-founder of Atom Tickets. "Teaming with Honda on Dream Drive to deliver next-generation passenger and driver movie ticketing services was a natural fit since our companies share the same goal of bringing convenience and entertainment to the consumer. Innovation is at the forefront of our company's DNA, and we hope consumers will enjoy seeing Atom pop up in more unexpected places in the future."

Honda collaborated with AAA, DC, Entercom/RADIO.COM, the LEGO Group, Silvergate Media and the Octonauts team, and Univision Music to create its passenger dashboard for entertainment, education, travel, commerce and rewards experiences.

"We continuously explore the opportunities offered by new technologies to create fun and creative play experiences for children in various play environments, physical and digital," said Tom Donaldson, senior vice president of Creative Play Lab at the LEGO Group. "This demo, while not a commercially available experience, is yet another way in which we aim to experiment with how children interact with LEGO play in a fun mixed-reality scenario."

Expanded in-vehicle payment partnerships

Since 2016, Honda has worked with Visa to build and enhance the in-vehicle payment experience to make payments more convenient and secure.

"By continuing our partnership with Honda, a leader in automotive innovation, we are furthering the development of in-car commerce solutions that focus on security, safety, and convenience for the driver," said Olabisi Boyle, vice president of IoT, Visa. "Combining Visa's payment expertise and Honda's expansive platform, we are one step closer to transforming the car in to a new epicenter for commerce."

Now, Honda is expanding its in-vehicle payment collaboration to include Mastercard and PayPal. Collectively, Honda is working with these partners to create the vehicle experience of the future.

"From the comfort of their homes to the confines of their cars, people want to make purchases when they want and where they want," said Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships, North America, Mastercard. "Our familiarity of shopping with mobile and voice-activated devices have created the expectation for almost every device to be a way to shop and pay. At Mastercard, we're bringing our technology and experience to ensure these experiences are simple, intuitive and secure."

Rewards Program for Honda customers

In an effort to create new value for vehicle ownership and use, Honda Developer Studio is user testing a new points-based rewards program to benefit drivers and passengers for using Honda products and services. Drivers and passengers can earn rewards points for participating in a variety of activities including purchasing services, watching and listening to media, and playing games.

"The gamification of everyday travel experiences with rewards points provides Honda with a unique opportunity to connect with its drivers and passengers, to establish a more personal engaging relationship with them, and to enhance customers' daily lives with the automotive industry's first frequent driving and riding program," said Bryan Biniak, CEO of Connected Travel®. "Honda drivers and passengers earn points from common activities as well as extraordinary experiences created with market leading brands and developers, and then redeem their reward points at their favorite local and online retailers."

Interested partners and innovators can meet with Honda Developer Studio and Connected Travel representatives at CES, January 8-11, 2019. To learn more about Honda Developer Studio, visit Developer.Hondainnovations.com and follow @HondaInnovation on Twitter.

About Honda Innovations
Honda Innovations drives transformative collaboration within all areas of Honda. As part of Honda Innovations, Honda Xcelerator and Honda Developer Studio, two open innovation programs, serve as catalysts to discover and experiment with new technologies and business concepts. Honda Innovations partners with innovators of all shapes and sizes from startups to global brands and design and development communities to create cutting edge products and services. Honda Innovations is based in Silicon Valley and operates globally. To learn more, visit HondaInnovations.com.

About Connected Travel
Founded in 2016, ConnectedTravel® has developed a comprehensive cloud-based platform services that utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), data fusion, behavior science and gamification technology to capture, understand, and drive consumers day-to-day mobile activities. ConnectedTravel® has developed, owns and operates a driver and passenger location-based application services platform and business that serves the automotive ecosystem on a SaaS basis. The platform provides data driven infotainment applications and APIs, realtime behavioral management and analytics tools, as well as geotargeted advertising and attribution services. For more information, visit www.connectedtravel.com.

SOURCE Honda