Not only Yamaha but BMW has also been working on autonomous motorcycle technology for the last few years. Recently, BMW Motorrad released footage of its self-driving R1200GS bike which is moving on a test track. The bike cannot self-start yet and needs someone to balance it and send it off its way. Once the bike is in motion, it can manage its throttle, clutch, gear, and brakes. The bike is capable of reading its track ahead of it and can steer its way around as well.
BMW says that it has no interest in creating a riderless bike and the team will use this test platform to understand motorcycle riding dynamics better. This will help them understand what kind of safety measures they should adopt for the future bikes. Stefan Hans, a team member, said, “The prototype helps us to expand our knowledge about the vehicle’s dynamics so that we can classify the rider’s behavior, and determine if a future situation will become dangerous or not. If so, we can inform, warn, or intervene directly. In this project, it was not our goal to develop a fully automated motorcycle. We want to improve motorcycle safety. It’s the proof that the underlying dynamic model is detailed enough to cope with the whole riding dynamics, so we can use that knowledge to develop further comfort and safety systems.”
The vehicles have benefited a lot from the systems like automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assist, blind spot and cross traffic alert systems. Many bikers are more interested in knowing about what is happening on the road for necessity and survival. KTM and Ducati have already started showing off their radar-assisted adaptive cruise technology. The KTM system has also begun testing a bit of gentle automatic braking system.
