Rider aids are coming which will automatically slow the bike (to a stop if need be), pull away in traffic and warn if other vehicles are getting too close. These are just few features of Bosch’s new Advanced Rider Assistance Systems (ARAS), which we will see on production bikes in 2025, starting with KTM.

ARAS uses input from front and rear-mounted radars. These send out electromagnetic waves, which when they hit something, bounce back to the bike with information on distance, relative speed and direction. “All of that,” explained ARAS Project Manager Thomas Maurer to MCN, “when you combine it with very complicated algorithms, you can understand where the objects are, where they are moving and to a certain extent what the vehicles are.” Information is sent to the bike’s ECU, its Inertial Measurement Unit and feasibility control system.

Several new systems will be available: Stop & Go will bring the bike to a halt in traffic, then pull away when the rider taps a button (possible with KTM’s semi-auto transmission); Group Ride Assist measures the distance to the closest bike in a riding group and adjusts speed to suit; Riding Distance Assist prevents tailgating, but is overridden by rider acceleration for overtaking; Rear Distance Warning warns the rider if the vehicle behind is tailgating; Rear Collision Warning turns on the bike’s hazard flashes if it thinks the car behind is likely to hit you; Emergency Brake Assist puts extra force on the front brakes if the rider isn’t braking hard enough.

Jim Freeman, chair of the BMF said ‘Car tech applied to motorcycles; my first thought is ‘how can I turn all this junk off?’ If you don’t want to actually ride motorcycles maybe you shouldn’t, perhaps I’m just a luddite? Situational awareness is safety critical on bikes, although this theoretically aids awareness, my concern is that it’s just as likely that what will result is rider complacency

Written by Peter Henshaw

Top image courtesy of Bosch