We’ve been hearing a lot about car-to-car communication, both here in the U.S. and in Europe, that would allow vehicles to “talk” to each other to avoid crashes. Anyone who has ever ridden a motorcycle in traffic knows that one of the biggest hazards is car and truck drivers not seeing bikes. So Honda wants include motorcycles in the car-to-car conversation.

At the 19th ITS World Congress in Vienna last week, Honda demonstrated connectivity for motorcycles that could allow bikes to communicate with cars and new active safety technology to make riding safer. Honda has been a member of Europe’s Car2Car Communication Consortium since 2006 and for years has worked on integrating motorcycles into the mix of connected vehicles.

The motorcycle-to-car connectivity technology that Honda demonstrated on a NC700X bike in Vienna provides warnings to the drivers of both cars and motorcycles so that they are better aware of each other.

According to an in-depth European study of motorcycle accidents, known as MAIDS, most collisions involving motorcycles are caused by drivers of other vehicles not noticing bikes nearby. According to Honda’s own research, accidents occur most commonly at intersections, when vehicles fail to stop for oncoming traffic, while the second most common accidents are “left-turn accidents,” when a vehicle turns left into the path of an oncoming motorcycle.

To help reduce such accidents, Honda showed what it calls a Motorcycle Approaching Indicator, which warns drivers and riders that an obscured vehicle is crossing their path. The company also demonstrated an alert for when vehicles ahead brake for emergencies.

An approaching motorcycle would also be able to send a special alert to nearby cars of a possible collision.

Honda says it was the first to bring connectivity to both cars and bikes back in 1999, with its Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV2) research project. In 2008, Honda held the first demonstration in Europe of an ASV2 motorcycle application on a Honda GL1800 Gold Wing. The Vienna demonstration showed how this technology can function on more compact motorcycles, such as the NC700X.

At last year’s ITS World Congress, BMW Motorrad unveiled its Advanced Rider Assistance Systems, with features such as collision warning and speed limit info as well as car-to-car communication. Europe’s Saferider organization is studying the potential of advanced rider assistance systems that include collision warning, intersection support, speed alert, curve warning and lane-change support to help reduce accidents.

None of these features is available on production motorcycles yet.