BMW developed a self-driving motorcycle to further its safety efforts

This week, BMW Motorrad showed off a self-driving version of its R1200GS, a motorcycle that it spent more than two years developing. You can see in the video below that the motorcycle, sans rider, can start, accelerate, lean into turns and stop all on its own. But don't expect to see this bike on the roads anytime soon. The company explained that it created the self-driving motorcycle not for consumers but to learn more about how it can implement new safety features.

"The prototype helps us to expand our knowledge about the vehicle's dynamics so that we can classify the rider's behavior and determine if a future situation will become dangerous or not," Stefan Hans, a Motorrad safety engineer, says in the video. "If so, we can inform, warn or intervene directly." The bike will be used to develop new safety systems aimed at supporting inattentive drivers.

While cars have gotten a whole slew of driving assistance features, motorcycles haven't received nearly as many. So, it'll be interesting to see what kind of safety features BMW Motorrad develops with the help of its self-driving motorcycle.

Via: The Verge



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