Bike Sense system in development

to help prevent motorcycle accidents

• technology
• Safety

Jaguar Land Rover are developing a new in-car ‘Bike Sense’ system to help prevent accidents between cars and motorcycles.  Many accidents are caused because drivers just do not see motorcyclists and therefore do not factor them in when moving on the road. To counter this, Jaguar Land Rover’s Advanced Research Centre in the UK is developing a new way to alert drivers to approaching or passing motorcycles or bicycles and hopefully thus prevent accidents.

In a nutshell they are evolving a car filled with a new range of technologies which will actually attract the driver’s attention with physical prompts. The idea is that rather than just a sound or a warning light which the driver may learn to edit out of their brains and may take a few minutes to process, this system will physically tap the driver on the shoulder or vibrate the accelerator pedal to attract their attention. Bike Sense uses lights and sounds that the driver will instinctively associate with the potential danger. Sound far fetched? Well it is certainly going to take some getting used to!

Basically, the car will be equipped with sensors which detect when another road user is in the vicinity and will identify if it is a motorcycle.  The Bike Sense system will then alert the driver of the car to the presence of the motorcycle with the use of lights and sounds specifically tailored to the hazard - for example a motorbike horn or bicycle bell sound played through the speaker nearest to where the motorcycle is coming from so that the driver immediately understands where the approaching vehicle is.  If a motorcycle is coming up from behind the car, Bike Sense will detect it and the driver’s seat will extend to ‘tap’ the driver on the shoulder on whichever side the bike is likely to be overtaking on so that the driver turns to look in the direction of the tap.  Weird – Herbie is now inside your car! As the gap between the motorcycle and the car decreases, the led lights on the dashboard will change colour from amber to red to indicate the motorcycle’s proximity and direction of travel.

Dr Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology, Jaguar Land Rover, said:
"Human beings have developed an instinctive awareness of danger over thousands of years. Certain colours like red and yellow will trigger an immediate response, while everyone recognises the sound of a bicycle bell. Bike Sense takes us beyond the current technologies of hazard indicators and icons in wing mirrors, to optimising the location of light, sound and touch to enhance this intuition. This creates warnings that allow a faster cognitive reaction as they engage the brain's instinctive responses. If you see the dashboard glowing red in your peripheral vision, you will be drawn to it and understand straight away that another road user is approaching that part of your vehicle."

Bike Sense is being developed to a very sophisticated level and in a crowded traffic situation would be able to prioritise likely risk factors rather than setting off multiple bells and whistles which might overwhelm the driver.  The car will also be able to detect the proximity of hazards when the driver may not be able to see them at all and can deploy things like a vibrating accelerator pedal or doorhandle when it would be dangerous to go forward or open the door.
The idea is that the range of sensors will engage the instincts and cut down the reaction time of the driver to a level which is far safer for all road users and will also be able to alert drivers to hazards which they might not even be aware of.
Well this is definitely on the cards now for the future of driving so what do you think of it? Let us know your opinion email: [email protected]