Since they can be more unpredictable on the road, motorbikes pose a unique challenge for autonomous cars. They’re more maneuverable, accelerate much quicker, travel in between lanes, and do all sorts of things that can confuse an algorithm as much as they confuse human drivers sometimes.
Therefore, in an effort to allow autonomous vehicles to be exposed to motorbikes in realistic conditions, without putting human riders at risk, British company AB Dynamics has been developing a riderless motorcycle.
The bike is a BMW C1 scooter, chosen for its automatic transmission. ABS system, and rain-busting roof structure, which is actually a handy place to mount a number of sensors. It has been fitted with an onboard robot controller, GPS, radio control software, and other sensors that allow its movement to be pre-planned using AB’s autonomous vehicle software.
AB’s Dr. Richard Simpson, the senior systems engineer, says that “future legislation and vehicle safety testing could require ADAS systems and autonomous vehicles to be validated in increasingly complex scenarios and the riderless motorcycle is a useful tool for achieving this.” He goes on to say that “it could also have applications in motorcycle durability testing by removing the human rider from some of the more arduous tests over rough surfaces, such as pave, where cars already use robot drivers to eliminate driver fatigue.”
As long as they don’t expect us to hand in our Suzuki keys in the future, we’re all for this kind of thing, and it will certainly be interesting for motorcyclists when autonomous cars become more and more prevalent.
The video below shows the technology demonstrator working with a self-driving motorbike, practicing a series of maneuvers, such as intersection management, overtaking, as well as demonstrating its ability to self-balance and perform tight cornering at slow speeds.
