A technology that’s fast becoming the norm on modern cars is adaptive cruise control – and Honda is working on bringing the same idea to two wheels.
New patent applications from the firm show how it intends to fit front-facing cameras, radars or other sensors to bikes.
With ABS now standard on most new bikes, and ride-by-wire throttles also becoming the norm, programming on-board computers to react to additional inputs is relatively cheap and simple. And since the cameras, microwave sensors, infrared sensors and radars used for active cruise control are being mass produced, their prices are also becoming more reasonable.
Unlike us, the sensors aren’t affected by darkness or fog, and the computer’s reactions are faster than any of us could hope for. That means the automatic brake assistance, although it can’t always prevent a crash, could certainly help reduce impact speeds even in accidents where an unsighted car pulls out into a motorcycle’s path.
By Ben Purvis
