Crash avoidance testing of automated cars will include motorcycles from 2023. Euro NCAP, a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme, which is responsible for the tests and which gives all new cars a safety rating, detailed the changes in Vision 2030, a paper published on 9th November 2022.

“We consider this as good news,” said FEMA’s General Secretary Dolf Willigers. “In September 2022 we published an article about the very high Euro NCAP star rating for the Tesla Model Y, while accidents with Teslas in the USA have shown that the Autopilot system is far from failproof, especially in bad weather conditions. The paper provides an answer to the concerns we expressed earlier.”

According to Vision 2030, crash avoidance testing will now include powered two-wheelers for the first time, as well as pedestrians and cyclists. Tests are conducted on test tracks, but in future will attempt to simulate real traffic conditions more closely with attention paid to different lighting and weather conditions. Until now, tests have also focused on motorways, but from 2024 other road scenarios will be introduced.

The test programme for automatic emergency braking will now include bikes, possibly including a higher approach speed to suit powered two-wheelers. Finally, the paper sees the PTW-related tests developing to include testing of ABS, traction control and other stability aids, along with motorcycle riding gear.

Jim Freeman, Chair of the BMF, said: “We’ll be watching this with interest, Euro NCAP have some ground to make up regarding motorcycles.”

Written by Peter Henshaw

Top image courtesy of edriving

See full FEMA (Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations) article here written by Dolf Willigers