BMW bikes that talk
ConnectedRide is a new system that allows motorcycles and cars to communicate in order to make the roads saferBMW is talking up the safety benefits of its emerging vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems, which in tandem with the recently announced 'left turn assistant' can improve the safety all motorists equipped with communications technology.
The example used to show how the 'ConnectedRide' system works is of a BMW 5 Series and a BMW R 1200 GS motorcycle "talking" to each other as they are about to cross paths. The vehicles automatically communicate to each other a range of telemetry, such as steering angle, throttle position and so forth, and then use algorithms to determine if one of the vehicles is on a collision course.
"This [vehicle to vehicle communications] device not only increases the range of the vehicle recognition function to 250 metres, it also allows the system to detect the presence of concealed road users who also have the technology on board," reads the BMW media statement.
Together with a special 'left turn assistant' being pioneered on the BMW 5 Series car, the vehicles can avoid a collision by communicating with each other.
"The car and the motorcycle communicate with one another via the car-to-x interfaces as the motorcycle approaches," stated Udo Rietschel, development engineer in the BMW Group Research and Technology's left turn assistant project. "The car and motorcycle exchange information on the type of vehicle, its position and speed, as well as dynamic data such as its current steering angle and whether the indicators are activated."
The result, claims BMW, are safer roads.
For instance if the car decides to turn across the road by flicking on the indicator, the motorcycle will have an early heads-up and, according to BMW, can identify if a collision is likely. If so, both vehicles will respond automatically; the motorcycle increasing its visual presence by flashing all its lights and honking the horn; the car by using the left turn assistant to brake before turning in front of the motorcycle.
With vehicle communication technology only a handful of years away from being implemented, we could eventually be living in a fatality free motoring world, where a powerful matrix of interconnected vehicles and infrastructure (traffice lights, highway monitoring stations etc) constantly chat to each other to ensure all drivers avoid collisions.
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