“Vehicle to vehicle” (V2V) or “Vehicle to infrastructure” (V2I) communication as rider assistance technologies for increased motorcycling safety.
BMW Motorrad is involved in collaborative research with an international network of experts with the aim of enhancing motorcycling safety. There are already signs of far-reaching developments to come which have emerged from BMW Motorrad ConnectedRide, a research project run by BMW Motorrad and BMW Research and Technology. From a long term perspective, assistance systems such as those based on V2x communication can offer considerable improvements in safety.
In future, an intersecting traffic assistant could be used to analyse the road users approaching a junction, including the priority situation and the probability of a collision occurring. In the event of an acute risk of collision, the perceptibility of the motorcycle would be increased by means of lights and sounding the horn.
A traffic light cycle assistant could involve communication between the traffic light system and the vehicle. If the lights had already turned red and the speed of the motorcycle has not changed as it reaches the junction, this information would be passed onto the rider early on via the instrument panel to allow the brakes to be applied gently.
BMW Motorrad eCall with automatic fall detection ACN – a life-saving system.
This valuable safety system is already available in serial production BMW automobiles and research is currently being carried out into a solution designed specifically for motorcycles. Such a feature might be ready for serial motorcycle production in the medium term.
If the rider of a motorcycle fitted with BMW Motorrad eCall were to be involved in an accident, this would be registered via a system of sensors (Automatic Collision Notification [ACN]) and an automatic emergency call would be activated. As in the case of manual operation, the necessary information would then be relayed to the BMW call centre and rescue operations would be coordinated geared towards the nature of the accident.
BMW Motorrad camera-based rider information and assistance system.
The BMW Motorrad rider information and assistance system could actively contribute to preventing dangerous situations from occurring in the first place. This technology could possibly be ready for serial production in the medium term. The system combines sign detection, object detection and collision warning to provide a comprehensive early warning system. For the first time in a motorcycle, the system actively detects a hazardous situation and is capable of triggering appropriate secondary measures such as increasing perceptibility or preparing the brake system.
