Amid widespread skepticism and patchy trust in autonomous technology around the world, BMW managed to bring it to one of the least expected arena, motorcycles.
The Bavarian company recently showcased a video featuring a self-driven motorcycle. It was posted on the company’s website and showcased an R 1200 GS taking turns and doing laps of the testing tracks at the facility before it comes to a halt, all without a rider.
As exciting as one might find this news, BMW in its release stated that the company is not aiming at a completely independent bike. “BMW Motorrad, as a driver for technical innovations in the field of motorcycling, is by no means aiming for a completely independent motorbike,” the statement said.
This tech seems to be merely a byproduct as the company is likely to use the tech as a platform for the development of future systems and functions to make motorcycling even safer. “The prototype helps us to expand our knowledge about the vehicle’s dynamics so that we can classify the rider’s behavior and determine if the future situation will become dangerous or not. If so, we can inform, warn, or intervene directly.” the release read.
Experts are doubtful about the success of such a tech in the market which is still trying to cope up with fundamental electronic safety features such as ABS. “In the developed world, we ride moto for fun. We’re trying to engage with the vehicle, not disengage. That is not true elsewhere, and there certainly could be a market for an autonomous scooter in Asia.” Common Tread’s resident autonomous vehicle expert Mark Gardiner told Revzilla.
A joint study that was conducted by MIT and Singapore Institute of Technology on trust in situations where a human had to rely on machine aid to complete tasks found out that “participants tended to under trust highly reliable aids and over-trust highly unreliable ones.”
