COULD future Hondas tell the car coming out of the side street up ahead to hang on a bloody minute, you're coming through?

No, each Honda two-wheeler of the future won't come with a free Asimo to do your every bidding - but they well might be fitted with technology that can communicate with similarly-equipped cars to keep you out of harm's way.

At least, that's the picture Honda painted at the 19th World ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) Congress, held in Vienna in October.

The 'Motorcycle Approaching Indication' application is a connectivity system that warns both driver and rider when it detects that there is an obscured vehicle potentially approaching their direction of travel.

Honda first proposed such a system in 1999, and demoed a version in 2008 on a Gold Wing. It has since refined ITS for more compact bikes, such as the ITS-enabled NC700X it used in this year's demo. So far, warning systems for the two most common types of car-bike collisions - T-boning and being cut off by a car turning left - have been demoed successfully.

ITS could potentially also communicate with roadside infrastructure, warning of hazards in the road. (Does that include unmarked police cars with radar guns? Honda doesn't say…)