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Honda Makes Motorcycle Talk To Oncoming Cars
An anonymous reader writes "The system generates warnings to riders and drivers of other vehicles by continuous exchange of positioning data from satellite GPS sources. This is particularly relevant as road users approach intersections, alerting them to other vehicles that are potentially on a collision course, allowing avoidance manoeuvres."
www.hondanews.eu
This could be very good for the safety of motorcyclists if widely deployed. Many motorcycle accidents involve cars pulling out in front of motorcycles and the car driver saying that they didn't see the motorcycle.
My only concern is for privacy. The broadcast message should not include the VIN or any other unique identifier that could be used for tracking.
More at the Honda Site. It seems to use a Car-to-Car protocol that is in development.
All this kit though looks like it would add significant cost to a motorcycle. :(
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
No, that would be a false negative. False positive would be detecting a car when there is none.
Glider pilots developed a low cost collision avoidance system called FLARM.
The small-size, low-cost, low-power device FLARM broadcasts its own position and speed vector (as obtained with an integrated GPS) over a license-free ISM band radio transmission. At the same time it listens to other devices based on the same standard. Intelligent motion prediction algorithms predict short-term conflicts and warn the pilot accordingly by acoustical and visual means. FLARM incorporates a high-precision WAAS 16-channel GPS receiver and an integrated low-power radio transceiver.
See www.FLARM.com
I used to think like this as well - Until I was rear-ended. Twice. The second time took out my whisper-quiet exhaust, so I put in one a bit louder. Not hate-the-neighbors loud, but louder. I've noticed people being more aware of me - Not in the "glaring" aware, but generally people leave some more room now. And I haven't been rear-ended since (i know, i know, correlation is not causation)
And I don't think sound is quite that directional... It's not like loud bikes are completely silent followed by a huge sonic boom when they pass me. Coming straight towards me, I can hear them QUITE well. Also, remember the whole thing about a Prius being TOO quiet?
I'm not saying the bike has to be deafening loud to be noticed, but the near silent exhaust in many is potentially a killer. I'm a respectful rider, I'm not aggressive, I obey the rules of the road, I've done everything to make my bike visible short of installing a huge strobe light in the back - What other defense can I possibly have against being rear-ended other than making it a bit louder?