Jaguar Land Rover is the latest car maker to announce a system designed to alert drivers to the proximity of cyclists to try and reduce car-bike collisions. But rather than just sounding an alert, the car maker says its system will tap the driver on the shoulder and sound a bike bell inside the car.

Jaguar says its 'Bike Sense' reearch is about trying to find the best warning signals that will trigger an instinctive response from the driver to prevent accidents.

That includes door handles that 'buzz' the driver's hand to prevent doors being opened into the path of bikes, and an accelerator pedal that will vibrate if moving the car would cause an accident.

Sensors on the car will detect when another road user is approaching and identify it as bicycle or motorbike. Jaguar says drivers will instinctively associate the lights and sounds the system uses for warnings with the potential danger.

Here's Jaguar's video showing how it works:

To help the driver understand where the bike is in relation to their car, the audio system will make it sound as if a bicycle bell or motorbike horn is coming through the speaker nearest the bike, so the driver immediately understands the direction the cyclist is coming from.

But what about that tap on the shoulder? If the bike or motorbike is overtaking the car or coming past on the inside, the top of the car seat will extend to tap the driver on the left or right shoulder. The idea is that the driver will then instinctively look over that shoulder to identify the potential hazard.

As the cyclist gets closer to the car, a matrix of LED lights on the window sills, dashboard and windscreen pillars will glow amber and then red as the bike approaches. The movement of these red and amber lights across these surfaces will also highlight the direction the bike is taking.

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."

The system will prioritise the nearest riders or pedestrians so the driver isn't overwhelmed with warnings, and will be able to alert the driver to pedestrians and cyclists obscured by, say, stationary vehicles.

Dr Epple added: "By engaging the instincts, Bike Sense has the potential to bridge the gap between the safety and hazard detection systems in the car and the driver and their passengers. This could reduce the risk of accidents with all road users by increasing the speed of response and ensuring the correct action is taken to prevent an accident happening."

Volvo has been working on systems that automatically detect and avoid cyclists for a couple of years and recently announced a collaboration with POC on a helmet that a car's onboard electronics would detect.

Ford has also been experimenting with automatic collision avoidance systems, and last year the Cycle Eye bike detection system was trialled on buses using Bristol's notoriously crowded Gloucester Road.