The German motorcycle brand, BMW Motorrad has announced its Active Cruise Control (ACC) rider assistance system. This new feature will be provided in future BMW bikes. The BMW Motorrad Active Cruise Control system has been developed in partnership with Bosch, which has several years of experience with passenger car driver assistance systems.
Relaxed cruising with active cruise control without having to manually adapt to the driving speed of the vehicle in front is something that we are already familiar with. It is a feature that most of the modern cars come equipped with. However, this technology is yet to become a common sight in the motorcycle industry.
It is no hidden fact that motorcycle manufacturers such as Ducati and KTM have been developing Active Safety features for motorbikes. Now, BMW Motorrad has joined the same bandwagon because the German company has announced its new Active Cruise Control rider assistance system which will be offered in future BMW motorcycles.
The BMW Motorrad Active Cruise Control system provides maximum comfort for the demanding touring motorcyclist by automatically regulating the speed set by the rider and the distance to the vehicle driving in front. The system automatically regulates the vehicle speed when the distance to the vehicle in front is reduced and keeps the distance defined by the rider. This distance can be varied in three stages.
Both the riding speed as well as the distance to the vehicle in front can be set conveniently using a button. The individual settings are displayed on the TFT instrument cluster. The new BMW Motorrad ACC has two selectable control characteristics: comfortable or dynamic, in which the acceleration and deceleration behaviour is changed accordingly. The distance control can also be deactivated in order to be able to use the Dynamic Cruise Control (DCC).
When cornering, the speed is automatically reduced by the ACC if required and a comfortable lean angle is aimed at. With an increasing lean angle, however, the braking and acceleration dynamics are limited in order to maintain a stable rideability and not to unsettle the rider by abrupt braking or acceleration.
It is to be noted that the BMW Motorrad ACC is a rider assistance system and leaves the responsibility with the rider and allows him to intervene at all times. That is also because the new ACC only responds to moving vehicles. Stationary vehicles – like at the end of a traffic jam or traffic lights – are not considered. In such cases, the rider has to do the braking.
