One in seven motorcycle accidents could be prevented by using radar-based assistance systems, according to Bosch, which is launching an active safety package for motorcycles.

BOSCH DOESN’T usually announce who is using its technology and so its announcement overnight that both KTM and Ducati would be fitting its motorcycle-oriented active safety package (from 2020) is huge. But then, the fact the company has produced such a package in the first place is probably even bigger news, although it was Bosch that developed ABS and stability control for motorcycles.

For motorcyclists, the risk of dying in an accident is 20 times higher than it is for a car driver. And so, Bosch said it tasked its engineers with developing active safety features from cars, including adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning and blind-spot monitoring to work on motorcycles.

“The technology underpinning these systems is a combination of radar sensor, brake system, engine management, and HMI (Human Machine Interface),” Bosch said in a statement.

In the same way as it does in a car, adaptive cruise control for a motorcycle works to adjust the bike’s speed to suit that of the vehicle in front of it to ensure a safe distance is maintained, and the forward collision warning will warn the rider via both an acoustic and optical signal if it detects a collision is imminent; unlike in a vehicle with autonomous emergency braking the brakes are not applied on the motorcycle. And the blind-spot monitoring works as it does in a car with a symbol illuminating in the bike’s rear vision mirror to indicate a vehicle is approaching from behind.

“The motorcycle of the future must be able to see and feel,” says Geoff Liersch, head of the Bosch Two-Wheeler and Powersports business unit.