Yamaha delving into self-riding motorcycles
It's already dabbled with a robot that rides motorcycles on its own, but now the company's investing in taking two-wheel independence one step furtherYamaha is investing $20 million into research concerning self-riding motorcycles, as well as drones and robotics.
The company said it doesn’t expect self-riding technology to be ready for commercial motorcycles for another 10 years, but that it wants to be ready for the change and has committed $20m in Silicon Valley investments to kickstart the process — one of hundreds of Japanese companies establishing a presence in the tech hub.
Yamaha doesn’t expect self-driving motorcycles to be fully autonomous, but does believe that they would be safer with extra input.
In February, Yamaha also announced that it had invested $2m in a US start-up called Veniam for its connected vehicle knowledge.
“It’s not a sense of crisis, but I want to make sure we stay ahead of the race,” chief executive Hiroyuki Yanagi told the Financial Times.
Yamaha's efforts in autonomous vehicles have involved a motorcycle-riding humanoid robot called Motobot, which showcased robotics controlling balancing. But Mr Yanagi does not envision a fully driverless motorcycle.
“Our current target is how to assist the rider,” he said. “The rider can focus more on safety if the machine handling becomes autonomous and artificial intelligence can be used for course selection.”
Yamaha’s push also comes as the company aims to launch a two-seater commuter vehicle in Europe as early as 2019. The entry into four-wheel vehicles stems from Mr Yanagi’s desire to create revenue-boosting businesses beyond motorcycles and boats.
Source: FT.com
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