Technology is always a contentious issue. Some welcome its advent, while others eschew its existence entirely. I suppose I fall somewhere in the middle as many of the features on my Kawasaki Ninja 10000sx I am glad to have.
Nearly twenty years ago, my role was defined by my CAO in a municipal government setting to be Director/Knowledge Officer, responsible for research, development and implementation of new technologies in relation to safety and cost effectiveness for Emergency Services. It was one of the first fire services in Canada to actually see this role formalized into the responsibility of the Chief Fire Officer.
What I see happening today is a quantum shift within companies to instill knowledge acquisition into major corporations. Often R&D was a seperate department, with the inability to create inflection points within the organization. Change management was only operationalized during strategic planning, usually on a five year cycle.
What most organizations clearly understand today, is that incrementalism and adaptation are events that have to occur organically within enterprises, either public or private, to ensure and assure politicians and bureaucrats that ‘necessary change’ is being accomodated in a rational and continuous manner.
And so it is with Honda which has always been at the apex of change. As a company, Honda dwarfs all of its rivals in the marketplace, often spending more on R&D than other manufacturers’ companies’ net worth. Yesterday, “Cycle World” (thank you Cycle World) released some details of Honda’s new registered patents for ‘Crosswind Assist and Lane Warning Departure’ systems. (link below)
While not new, Honda “has been hard at work on self-steering rider assistance systems for years now.”
https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-news/honda-crosswind-assist-and-lane-warning-systems/
A major concern for the inclusion of this technology in future motorcycles is sensitivity. Will these systems be oversensitive such that they interfere with the rider’s inputs? Knowing Honda, it will likely hit a sweet spot between assistance and annoyance.
How the Technology Works
Honda’s patent revolves around a servo-assisted steering device that falls somewhere between a steering damper and an auto-steering system. For those of us who have motorcycles with steering dampers, they don’t feel intrusive. They simply attenuate inputs to keep the steering of the motorcycle stable and tractable. The difference with Honda’s new system is that it is not passive by design. A computer (I would imagine IMU) is fed information from an array of sensors that measure acceleration and speed, steering torque and angle, radar, and a camera. It works out what you want to do by analyzing these factors and the environment, and then determines how to meet that goal. In normal conditions, it would not intervene whatsoever, however, when it senses that there is a problem, it would assist.
Where this makes the most sense is with cross-winds, whether steady or when there are gusts. It would do this by creating virtual lanes which it will try to keep the motorcycle within. Supposedly. this new technology will be integrated with adaptive cruise control so that it will ‘know’ where other nearby vehicles are as well as the edge of the road. It would then intervene based on the urgency of the situation.
Another area where Honda is working is concerning haptic feedback systems. Many cars already have this integrated into the steering column to tell the driver he is drifting either left or right. In Honda’s case, as utilized on a motorcycle, feedback would come to either the right or left handlebar, producing a vibration and telling you through the vibration which way to steer the motorcycle to correct its trajectory.
It would accomplish this by what they call, a ‘rumble device’ attached to an electric motor in the bar-end of each handlebar. The frequency of the vibration and its speed would indicate the amount of adjustment required. As in cars, this will likely be designed for blind spot and lane-keeping functions.
This may well be a life-saver, as with adaptive braking, when a rider is tired and slow to react.
I’m sure once implemented into new motorcycle production many will want the ability to either use or turn off these functions. I must admit that I find it amazing how quickly these systems have come to fruition. When combined with some of the ideas from BMW, (like gyroscope stability) we may reach a point where once you stop your bike at an intersection, there is no need to balance. Your bike will be designed so that it cannot fall over as long as power is being provided to the gyroscope.
Interesting concepts.
Ciao…
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