Jaguar Land Rover boffins have come up with new safety tech, called Bike Sense, allowing cars and bikes to share the road in harmony. Too good to be true?
SORT OF… BIKE SENSE isn’t ready to be installed into production vehicles yet, but according to Jaguar Land Rover the new technology uses “colours, sounds and touch inside the car to alert drivers to potential hazards and prevent accidents involving bicycles and motorbikes”. Sounds great.
Sensors on the vehicle will detect when either a cyclist or motorcyclist is approaching, Bike Sense will then alert the driver in a similar way to Blind Spot monitoring. However, unlike Blind Spot monitoring, Bike Sense “uses lights and sounds that the driver will instinctively associate with the potential danger.
“To help the driver understand where the bike is in relation to their car, the audio system will make it sound as if a bicycle bell or motorbike horn is coming through the speaker nearest the bike, so the driver immediately understands the direction the cyclist is coming from.
“If a bicycle or motorbike is coming up the road behind the car, Bike Sense will detect if it is overtaking or coming past the vehicle on the inside, and the top of the car seat will extend to ‘tap’ the driver on the left or right shoulder. The idea is that the driver will then instinctively look over that shoulder to identify the potential hazard.
“As the cyclist gets closer to the car, a matrix of LED lights on the window sills, dashboard and windscreen pillars will glow amber and then red as the bike approaches. The movement of these red and amber lights across these surfaces will also highlight the direction the bike is taking,” Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement.
But Bike Sense doesn’t just work when you’re driving, JLR said it also works to prevent vehicle occupants from opening their door into the path of a cyclist. “Bike Sense would warn all passengers of an approaching cyclist, motorbike or car through sound and light inside the vehicle. If any passenger continues to open the door, the door handle will light up, vibrate and buzz to alert them to the danger.”
Let us know what you think of Bike Sense. Is it making driving a car less like, well, driving a car and more like piloting a jet fighter? Will it be too distracting for the driver?
