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Mark Hinchliffe·
NewsMotorbike news
··4 Comments·1 min read

Automated cars a ‘danger to riders’

Automated cars lane filtering lane splitting road safety

The coming revolution of automated cars and trucks is supposed to create safer roads, however a new report raises concerns that motorcycles will not be detected.

The European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers report says the automated technology is still new and untested in the real world.Automated cars lane filtering lane splitting road safety

“In some cases, modern cars do not have robust enough equipment to detect motorcycles,” the report says.

“Several accidents in Europe and the US with cars ‘on autopilot’ indicate that some cars failed to detect motorcycles in all situations.

“Today, in some driver handbooks, one can find statements such as ‘the system may not detect small vehicles like motorcycles’, which is simply not acceptable from a safety point of view.”

Automated cars

There have been varying reports over the past few years that say automated cars will make roads both safer and more dangerous for riders.

The EAMM report says the motorcycle industry is “open to discussion, recognition and appeals to the car industry and legislators to take this issue seriously and start dialoguing with the motorcycle industry on how to ensure that future cars react to motorcycles in a safe manner”.

However, motorcycle companies are also working on self-riding motorcycles and interventionist technologies to make riding safer.

Damon X electric motorcycle transforms automated cars
Damon X electric motorcycle with vehicle sensors

In fact, Damon Motorcycles CEO and founder Jay Giraud has produced a white paper about the future of the motorcycling industry in which he says advanced safety systems may save motorcycling.

He predicts a future “where the idea of rider accidents being inevitable and unavoidable will be a thing of the past.

The EAMM report concludes:

In the future, increasing levels of automation in passenger cars will shift the task of dynamic driving further and further away from the driver and towards the vehicle itself. The technology used should be reliable and has to compensate for ‘taking the human driver out of the loop’. Therefore, the development of automated assistance systems will have to be designed and validated as motorcycle compatible covering all the requirements, from situation recognition through to execution of manoeuvres.

  • Do you think automated cars will make riding safer r more dangerous? Leave your comments below.
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4 Comments

  1. The human race is, en masse becoming increasingly less intelligent and under skilled.
    Far too heavily reliant on technology to do what we should be doing ourselves. This reliance breeds complacency. From complacency comes sloth. A deadly sin.
    Instead we should be investing ever more into education and training. This notion however, works against those that seek to profit from controlling man. Corporates and governments seek to undermine human intelligence and skill. They prey on the hearts and minds of the weak (the overwhelming majority) under the guise that “unless something is done” (code for, we are going to tell you how it is) making policy based on the small minority that benefits the <1%.

  2. That all sounds great for those riding new bikes but what about bikes without all the new technology ?
    Will they be forced to buy new bikes to “keep themselves safe ” thus eliminating vintage bikes off the road ?
    As with all new technologies, it is a double edged sword.

  3. I think answer is “it depends”. Perhaps in predictable traffic it will be better, but probably not in all other circumstances.

    It will certainly place more onus on the biker to be vigilant. If you honk at an autonomous vehicle it’s unlikely to hear you and react (although the same could be said for many humans behind the wheel).

  4. Enjoy the next decade of self driving and riding because it will be phased out. How could it not be?

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