A call for the sharing of safety-related data, billboards designed to scrub pollution from the air, and the use of emojis to convey emotion to a car horn were among the items promoted by automakers recently.

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[naviga:li]Volvo is supporting increased sharing of traffic safety data by governments and other automakers, saying the wider availability of anonymized data will help keep drivers safe without compromising their privacy. The automaker currently shares information from its vehicles' anti-skid system and hazard lights to warn other Volvo drivers of upcoming dangers. Under an agreement with the governments of Sweden and Norway, the anti-skid information will also be shared with road authorities so they are better aware of icy road conditions. Volvo says increased data sharing will be necessary as autonomous vehicles are developed; the automaker is planning to introduce its first self-driving vehicles in 2021.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Toyota's efforts to promote its fuel cell Mirai vehicle as environmentally friendly now include billboards that have their own ecological benefits. The automaker has introduced billboards with a titanium dioxide coated vinyl to act as a catalytic converter. This catalyst converts nitrogen dioxide, a vehicle emission that contributes to smog and acid rain, into nitrate and removes it from the air. The 37 billboards, located in Los Angeles and San Francisco, will be up through May 28 and are estimated to scrub the equivalent of 440 vehicles' nitrogen oxide emissions from the atmosphere.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]The standard vehicle horn has little room for conveying emotion, and Honda is looking to give it more expression. The "Honda Horn," which will come standard on the 2018 Odyssey minivan, includes seven buttons to have the horn emit different sounds. These buttons, represented by emojis, range from annoyance to happiness; there is also a dog emoji to create a sound which is inaudible to humans but will warn canines of an approaching vehicle. The automaker says drivers usually use a horn out of anger, and that the Honda Horn was developed to improve communication between drivers.[/naviga:li]

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