Ducati has demonstrated a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system aimed at improving the safety of motorcyclists.
At a demonstration event organised by the Connected Motorcycle Consortium (CMC) – an international association of leading manufacturers of two-wheeled vehicles that aims to include motorbikes in the future of connected mobility – Ducati teamed up with Lamborghini to showcase this new technology, which uses displays and audio alerts to warn riders and drivers of danger.
Ducati says its research focused on the three critical and dangerous accident cases – those that place motorbikes in an obscured position in relation to oncoming cars or those that put motorcyclists in a situation where they don’t have visibility of what is happening in front of them. In these situations, communication between vehicles integrated with on-board sensors could help reduce the number of accidents.
The cases demonstrated by Ducati and Lamborghini were IMA (Intersection Movement Assist), LTA (Left Turn Assist) and DNPW (Do Not Pass Warning).
IMA (Intersection Movement Assist) considers an intersection with reduced visibility where a motorbike on a busy road approaches an intersection where a car is arriving at the same time from a secondary road. To make this situation even more critical, Ducati opted to add a fixed obstacle to totally obscure the view of the motorbike from both the car driver and the car’s auxiliary systems. In this case, a warning signal is displayed on the car dashboard alerting the motorist to the arrival of the motorbike, advising the driver to approach the intersection with extreme caution.
LTA (Left Turn Assist) relates to an intersection where both the car and motorbike are traveling on the main road but in opposite directions, and the car wants to turn left. In this case, the motorbike is less visible than the car, even through the auxiliary systems, and as soon as the motorist turns on the blinkers when approaching the intersection, a warning signal for the motorbike is displayed.
DNPW (Do Not Pass Warning), is where a motorbike in a line of traffic wants to overtake a large vehicle in front of it which, in turn, has a car ahead of it that wants to make a left turn. This car is not visible to the motorcyclist. In this case, it is the motorcyclist that sees the warning as soon as the system detects that both the car and the motorbike have turned on their blinkers.
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