The Autonomous Motorcycle
The bike that cares about you
BMW have recently unveiled to the public a new model of self-riding motorcycle, the R 1200 GS. This is a testing prototype that can start, stop, turn on a lean and brake all on its own.
Stefan Hans, a graduate engineer and his team are the ones who have been working on this technology, which has been in development for over two years. Their main focus isn’t to build fully autonomous bikes, but to include similar features on motorcycles to complement the rider’s style and offer “more stability in critical situations”.
The purpose of this fully automated prototype is to gather additional knowledge about driving dynamics and incorporate the avoidance and detection of dangerous situations to everyday riding.
In addition to safer riding, they’ve also been working on making headlights more luminous and building frames which are entirely 3D printed.
Overall we won’t be seeing bikes driving themselves on the streets any time soon, but if we follow the promises of manufacturers we can hope for safer vehicles in the near future.
What are your thoughts on this technology? Do you think it will make for safer vehicles/riders? Let us know by emailing [email protected].