^{As reported by BMW Motorrad}

Research areas in the field of vehicle-to-vehicle communication show that a long-term approach is also being adapted to motorcycle safety.

BMW Motorrad ConnectedRide - Advanced Safety Concept (Photo: BMW Motorrad)

ConnectedRide—a research project being run by BMW Motorrad and BMW Group Research and Technology—indicates developments which could advance safety much further. Assistance systems based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication make motorcycling much safer still: these are to be installed in serial production motorcycles by BMW Motorrad in the future. In connection with this research work, BMW Motorrad is the only motorcycle manufacturer involved in a large-scale field test with five vehicles.

BMW Motorrad already presented six elements of the ConnectedRide program in June 2009 at the International Technical Conference on the "Enhanced Safety of Vehicles" or ESV in Stuttgart. In addition to the cross traffic and traffic light phase assistant, BMW developers designed three warning systems especially for motorcyclists: for bad weather conditions, obstacles and approaching emergency vehicles.

BMW Motorrad ConnectedRide - Advanced Safety Concept (Photo: BMW Motorrad)

The fourth system to be presented by BMW Motorrad was the draft for an electronic brake light which responds to sudden brake manoeuvres in dense traffic lines, automatically relaying the information to the rear in a fraction of a second.

An additional assistance system was presented in May 2011, the left turn assistant, along with the most recent stage of development in this area: the overtaking assistant.

The cross traffic assistant analyses road users approaching a junction, the priority situation and the probability of a collision as well as assessing the response of car drivers required to wait. A display in the cockpit indicates the traffic regulations to the car driver—for example in the case of a potential failure to give way. If the driver does not respond appropriately, he is warned of the risk of collision in stages—in visual, tactile and acoustic form. On the motorcycle, the road light is gradually modulated, light intensity is increased and additional LED strobes at the side of the motorcycle are activated so as to widen the silhouette and thereby increase notice ability in the case of an increasing risk of collision. If a collision is imminent the motorcycle horn is sounded automatically.