Can Honda End Motorcycle Fatalities by 2050?

[Hugh Janus]

Honda is adapting its ADAS (advanced driver-assistance system) to motorcycles. (Honda/)

Back in April of last year, Honda announced a seemingly impossible target: by 2050 the company wants zero traffic-collision fatalities involving Honda motorcycles and/or automobiles globally. Its 2022 Sustainability Report fleshes out that plan—explaining how a combination of technology, communication, and education is being pursued to achieve the goal. We’ve recently seen that Honda is plowing R&D cash into rider-assist technology, developing ways for motorcycles to adopt the sort of collision avoidance that’s becoming increasingly common on four wheels, but that’s only one aspect of the strategy to cut the tie between motorcycling and risk.

Honda’s initial plan is to halve traffic fatalities involving its vehicles by 2030 (compared to 2020′s figures). Understandably, the low-hanging fruit will be picked first, so cars are the initial focus, gaining ever higher levels of collision-avoidance technology based on the existing Honda Sensing system. That tech is already being developed toward “Level 3″ autonomy (where cars will be able to operate autonomously in certain circumstances with a driver at the wheel but not required to constantly supervise the car’s actions).

Although it’s car tech, there’s a knock-on effect for motorcyclists since the future developments of this idea will aim to eliminate human error on the part of drivers. For riders, that vitally means the days of cars pulling into our paths are numbered. Honda’s plan includes the introduction of a motorcycle-specific detection function in its future ADAS (advanced driver-assistance system) for cars.

It’s sensible to put the initial focus on automobiles rather than motorcycles. It’s easier to add computer controls to the steering, acceleration, and braking of cars, which also make up a much larger proportion of traffic in most markets. What’s more, their drivers are less likely to be attentive and enthusiastic than motorcyclists. If you’re reading this, the chances are you’re interested not only in getting from A to B but doing it in a way that involves skill and concentration—and that’s half the battle won already.

Honda recognizes that, too, and wants to put new focus on training, particularly in emerging countries, and says that in 2021 it provided traffic education to 1.24 million people in Asia. The firm has also created car, motorcycle, and even bicycle simulators to help with that training.

But to make the leap to zero fatalities there needs to be a focus on technology, and for that the key will be a combination of AI-powered “Intelligent Driver-Assistive Technology”—a future development of the sort of lane-keeping, auto-braking, auto-steering, and driver-alert systems already used in cars and being adapted for motorcycles at the moment—and the company’s planned “Safe and Sound Network Technology.”

Computing power and networking are the keys to predicting potential causes for accidents before they happen, then warning the rider, and only intervening when necessary. (Honda/)

The artificial-intelligence system is intended to monitor drivers (and eventually riders when the tech is applied to motorcycles) using on-board cameras and sensors to learn their behaviors and predict errors before they happen while providing warnings. That means that while the technology will exist to intervene in an emergency, the first step is to alert road users to risks and give them a chance to react themselves. The hope is that these systems will be introduced into cars in the second half of this decade, and since human error is the cause of 90 percent of traffic collisions, bringing it to an end will be a huge step toward Honda’s goal.

The Safe and Sound Network Technology is a further development of the idea of predicting accidents before they happen. It will involve adding a communication system that allows vehicles to talk to one another, so when AI predicts that one driver or rider is likely to make a risky move, traffic around him can be alerted as well. Honda sees the system using on-board and roadside cameras and relying on smartphones to channel data to a server that can then predict traffic movement in real time, simulating events that could happen and providing early warning of risks it identifies. The smartphone aspect means that even pedestrians could be included in the analysis and be warned of dangers.

Honda sees this system being implemented after 2030. Testing is now underway with the aim of creating a global set of standards for the technology in the latter part of this decade. It’s positive to see that while Honda is relying heavily on technology, the firm isn’t set on removing control from drivers or riders. The focus is on providing early warnings rather than interventions, enhancing safety without restricting freedom, and we can get behind that.

Source

[Buckster]

Shite.

[Six30]

2 hours ago, Buckster said:

Shite.

Agreed

[boboneleg]

Bollocks

 

[Buckster]

11 hours ago, boboneleg said:

Bollocks

 

Pete will be all about this shit.