Robot cars will give a new meaning to easy riders

Self-driving technology promises to transform the vehicle industry as we know it. It may also change the business of selling motorcycles, albeit in a very different way. It all comes down to safety, according to Karl Viktor Schaller, the head of development of BMW Motorrad. When robots are at the wheel, far fewer bikers will die on the road, which won’t be lost on all those people who pine for a motorcycle but have always been too scared to buy one.

“It would mean a dramatic enhancement in safety for the motorbike,” Schaller said. “And it would guarantee a wider user group.”

The maths is as straightforward as it is compelling. Consider a vehicle turning across a lane of oncoming traffic: it has little to do with the bike rider, but is one of the most dangerous things in motorcycling. In the United States, it is the cause of one out of every five deaths of bikers, according to crash statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety

Cars travelling in the same direction as the motorcycle often don’t notice a bike overtaking, and cars making a turn while coming from the opposite direction either fail to see the oncoming bike, or misjudge its speed.

In theory, robot cars won’t make Mosquet said.

Nevertheless, for motorcycles and the companies that make them, selfdriving cars can’t come soon enough.

surged in the past 18 months: last year, traffic deaths in the US climbed by 7.2%, the largest uptick since 1966.

in the first half of this year.

A disproportionate number of these fatalities are motorcycle riders, as revealed by one shocking statistic: although bikers account for less than 1% of vehicle kilometres travelled in the US, motorcyclists accounted for 14.2% of all traffic deaths in 2015.

The biggest problem is that Americans are driving more, thanks to a bullish labour market and cheap fuel.

But, even on a per-kilometre basis, the death rates are alarming. The

- enced and more inclined to be reck-

An estimated one in 10 fatal crashes is caused by not watching the road, although the real number could be far higher than the data suggest.

One NHTSA official, who requested anonymity, said distraction is difficult to measure after the fact, unlike blood-alcohol levels. But the proliferation of smartphone tech-

cited as a potential cause.

It’s hoped that autonomous cars will reduce the crashes. And, if these cars embolden a new wave of easy riders, the change will start showing soon.

Mark Reuss, the product development chief of General Motors, said new cars will be “mostly in charge” of driving by 2020 and fully in control

- tive officer, Elon Musk, has a similar forecast — he thinks half of all cars made in 2022 or 2023 will be fully autonomous.

Self-driving motorcycles, meanwhile, may be farther off. Yamaha, which is developing a bike-riding cyborg dubbed Motobot, estimates they will lag self-driving cars by at least a decade.

But autonomous features will help bikers far sooner. BMW envisions a suite of systems that map the road ahead and alert the rider to curves and conditions. If the bike calculates that it is going too fast for upcoming terrain, it can warn its rider.

The trade-off for cars getting safer is that it may make riding in them dull. But biking will be safer while Jo’burg phased in water restrictions last year. Households using more than 20 000 litres a month now face penalties.

The biggest household water users live in Waterval in Midrand, where each property laps up 159 kilolitres a month, trailed by Witpoort at 111 kilolitres litres and Westcliff, where homes use 96 kilolitres a month.

Households in Parktown use on average 90 kilolitres a month, and North Riding properties use 87 kilolitres a month.

The areas in Johannesburg that use the most water are:

month); kilolitres);

- ting down the water supply overnight to reach its target of 15% water savings. The area’s supplier, Umgeni Water, is also considering implementing a drought levy on the municipality, among others, to ensure that the water left can last until the drought breaks.

eThekwini’s biggest household water users consume on average 43.5 kilolitres a month and live in Broadway, Glen Anil, La Lucia and Umhlanga.

Hot on their heels are the residents of Rossburgh, Clairwood, Ocean View and the Bluff, who sponge up about 42.6 kilolitres a month, and Jacobs and Isipingo, where homes use some 42.1 kilolitres a month.

Wa t e r f a l l , K l o o f , P i n e t o w n , litres); and kilolitres). eThekwini’s head of communica-

figures are based on consumer sales meter measurements and do not reflect water lost through illegal connections, unmetered connections or system leaks.

Cape Town

Attempts to obtain figures from the City of Cape Town were unsuccessful.

The Mail & Guardian emailed the head of utilities, Gisela Kaiser, three weeks ago requesting water usage information.

She sent the request to media liaison officer Simon Haytham, who said he’d approached “the department to see whether we have this kind of data. We’ll let you know once they get back to us.”

This week, he said in response to the M&G’s follow-up emails: “We will respond as soon as possible.”