Autonomous cars are not new, but an autonomous motorcycle? Well, that’s new and kind of bizarre too. Bizarre because, a motorcycle making the journey without a person makes it look like scene from Scooby-Doo. But rest assure, BMW self-riding motorcycle is anything but supernatural. So, yeah. Self-riding motorcycle is a thing now and apparently, it has been in the development for the past two years. BMW posted a video of it in action and it looks totally unreal.
Seeing an everyday BMW motorcycle accelerating, leaning into turns, and deploying the kickstand as it comes to a stop is something words can’t describe. I’d say it feels a little surreal with a dash of creepiness. Somehow, this rider-less BMW motorcycle makes a humanoid riding a super bike seem a whole lot less creepy. But why an autonomous motorcycle?
According to Stefan Hans of BMW Motorradsicherheit, this self-riding two-wheeler will help BMW to “expand the knowledge of the vehicle dynamics” so that they can “classify the rider’s behavior and determine the future situation will become dangerous or not.” If it is (dangerous), the motorcycle can inform, warn, or even intervene directly to mitigate the situation. The ultimate aim is to create system that will help keep an inattentive rider safe.
OK. So, making a self-riding bike is not the end goal. It is more like replicating the safety features like brake assist and perhaps, lane departure warning, found on cars on a motorcycle. That’s an admiral goal there and we welcome that because, it may just may riding a wee bit safer.
Continue reading for a video of the self-riding bike in action.
Images: YouTube.
Source: Autoblog.
