Radar Revolution
Radar-assisted safety systems will make riding a bike safer, and they'll be with us in 2020. Ben Purvis explains why this is a good thing…
Bosch’s Geoff Liersch has ridden over 2000 miles using prototype radar technology on test bikes – probably more than anyone else on the planet. So what’s the beneit of the system, and why should we get excited about yet more tech?
‘Two years ago I was using the system, in Japan, on my way to the Motogp,’ he says. ‘It was wet and spray thrown up by trac made it dicult to see. I was attempting to check the lane beside me was clear when a car in front, that I couldn’t see, decelerated. In response the system decelerated and applied the brake slightly – which was more than enough to let me know something was there. As a result I could brake before running into someone. That’s the sort of thing the system can do, and in conditions like that I’m very, very sure it will save lives,’ says the engineer, who’s overseen the radar project for many years.
Ducati and KTM have both confirmed plans for radar-assisted bikes using Bosch’s system that will appear in 2020, and in the same way Bosch traction control and ABS have spread across swathes of new bikes, it’s only a matter of time before radar-assisted technology does the same thing.
Cars have had this kind of tech for a decade in the form of adaptive cruise control, where radar is used to monitor the speed of vehicles ahead, automatically modulating the throttle to keep pace with them and slowing down if the vehicle in front suddenly stops. But the process is trickier on bikes.
Why bikes are tricky
‘One of the big differences between a car and a motorcycle is lean angle. If you imagine a radar beam, it’s relatively flat, like a big fan laid out in front of you, and as you turn into a left hand corner you’ll end up with the left hand side of the beam digging into the ground, and you get reflections.’ These confuse the system.
However, with the increasing use of IMUS – sensors that detect lean angle, wheelies etc – the engineers can exclude these reflections by knowing when the beam will hit the ground. The next problem is car drivers sit down and wear a seat belt, whereas bike riders are less predictable. Even if the system detects a stationary vehicle just in front, it can’t slam on the brakes in case you’re cruising along with your left hand off the bars. ‘The first step is forward collision warnings,’ says Geoff. ‘This tells you you’re not looking where you should be. It depends on the manufacturer how they give the information to the rider, but for example with high-end Tft-type displays there’s no problem putting up big visual warnings.’ Audible warnings are also possible. Further ahead, systems will automatically decelerate or even brake by themselves – like the prototype Geoff was testing on the way to the Japanese Motogp. ‘If you input disturbance into a bike that an experienced rider doesn’t expect, they’re pretty quick to tense muscles
‘It’s only a matter of time before radar-assisted technology spreads across swathes of new bikes’
and look forward. So even something as simple as rolling-off the throttle when you’re not expecting it is enough to warn the rider.’
Interfering nanny
‘At the end of the day we love riding motorcycles. We don’t want systems to interfere too much, but we also want to get home safe. The combination of these two is the challenge we’ve got at the moment.’