Driver aids and advanced safety assistance systems have made great strides in recent years. A decade or two ago, a motorcycle with ABS and traction control was considered innovative in terms of safety. Nowadays, even simple urban scooters come equipped as standard with TC and ABS.
Manufacturers are now harnessing the power of technology in an attempt to make motorcycles safer than ever. We are seeing this with the radar systems from BMW, Ducati, and KTM, and this time, it seems that Honda is working on a similar adaptive cruise control system.
Interestingly, instead of relying solely on radar, it combines stereo cameras with radar technology for a smarter adaptive cruise control system.
Well, of course, it’s about safety. Radar systems, on their own, have some limitations, such as the inability to distinguish certain objects on the road, but they have a much greater range than camera systems. Meanwhile, camera systems can quickly identify objects, but they can also be affected by variables like dirt and glare.
So, by combining the two, Honda hopes to develop a safer and smarter system.
Based on the patent images, the new radar and camera-based adaptive cruise control system will be used in a future version of the Honda Africa Twin. The image shows the cameras mounted just below the headlight, with rubber mounts and a gimbal-type support to absorb vibrations, as well as tilt and yaw adjustments.
Another interesting development from Honda comes in the form of an automatic braking system. This system uses data collected by the radar and camera setup, so it is very likely that this functionality will be incorporated when the complete package is released. So, yes, it is very similar to the adaptive cruise control systems found in our cars, as the radar and camera systems will tell the motorcycle to accelerate and decelerate according to traffic flow.
Naturally, this system would also make sense in touring models like the NT1100, Rebel 1100, and Gold Wing.
