New Bosch tech helps drivers detect riders

Bosch has teamed with Australian company Cohda Wireless as well as Ducati and Autotalks to develop new vehicle sensing technology that allows car drivers and motorcycle riders to talk to each other.

Described as a “digital protective shield”, Bosch claims the motorcycle-to-car communication technology could reduce motorcycle accidents by up to 30 per cent by increasing the digital visibility of bikes on the road.

It works by exchanging information about vehicle types, speeds, positions and directions of travel up to 10 times a second within a radius of several hundred metres.

“Long before drivers or their vehicles’ sensors catch sight of a motorcycle, this technology informs them that a motorcycle is approaching, allowing them to adopt a more defensive driving strategy,” says Bosch.

“For example, typically dangerous situations arise when a motorcycle approaches a car from behind on a multi-lane road, ends up in a car’s blind spot, or changes lanes to pass. If the system identifies a potentially dangerous situation, it can warn the rider or driver by sounding an alarm and flashing a warning notice on the dashboard.

“In this way, all road users receive essential information that actively helps avoid accidents.”

Allowing bikes and cars fitted with the system to detect each other, the technology employs the public WLAN standard (ITS G5) and also sees parked or idling vehicles transmit data to any surrounding receivers.

The technology uses “multi-hopping”, which forwards data automatically from vehicle to vehicle, to allow riders and drivers who are further away to reliably receive the necessary traffic information.

“We let motorcycles and cars talk to each other, creating a digital protective shield for riders,” says Dr Dirk Hoheisel, a member of the Bosch board of management.

“Through safety systems such as ABS and motorcycle stability control, Bosch has already made riding a two-wheeler significantly safer. By connecting motorcycles, we are taking safety to the next level.

“The goal is to prevent dangerous situations from occurring in the first place,” he said.

Bosch says the “smart solution” for reducing motorcycle fatalities is in prototype stage but is yet to confirm when it will appear in production vehicles.

It says it developed the technology to reduce the risk to motorcyclists, who are 18 times more likely to be killed in an accident than drivers.

In Victoria, motorcyclists and pillion riders represented a disproportionate 19 per cent of all lives lost on the roads in 2016. Last year in Germany, there were approximately 30,000 motorcycle accidents, about 600 of which were fatal.

“One of the main reasons is that riders of two-wheelers are often overlooked in road traffic, both at intersections and during passing. Bosch wants to change that,” said the German tech company.