Long-range Radar

Another facet of Continental’s future technology was the long-range radar mounted on the front of a BMW R 1200 GS Adventure. I got to witness this prototype tech up close, with Conti’s test rider at the helm, and me hanging on for dear life riding pillion. What I got to experience first-hand was adaptive cruise control with emergency brake assist that this tech provided. If you have ever ridden or even driven with cruise control, you’ll know that not needing to constantly feed input into the accelerator is great, although having to constantly slow down or speed up based on the vehicle in front of you kind of defeats the purpose, which is where adaptive cruise control comes in.

We had a car driving in front of us, and the bike automatically sped up or slowed down based on the change in speed of the car we were trailing. I know what you’re thinking: wouldn’t this lull you into a false sense of comfort? Continental beat you to it, I’m afraid, and have already included emergency brake assist feature, which the test rider proceeded to demonstrate, with me still hanging on for dear life. When the car in front of us suddenly braked, the bike’s brakes were also applied. The system won’t bring the bike to a complete standstill; however, it will provide the initial braking action in case you weren’t paying absolute attention, and then you can let instinct kick in and come to complete standstill or swerve around the errant vehicle. Another one for the future and one that, if so optimised, could be plenty useful on our shores.