Honda patents point to radar-guided cruise control on new Gold Wing

Patents filed by Honda show the firm is working on adding radar-guided cruise control to the Gold Wing

Honda Gold Wing radar unit mounted in the fairing

HONDA looks to be getting into the radar game, as the next generation Gold Wing is seen in patents sporting radar-guided cruise control.

The patent seen here was originally filed in March 2018, which means that the work on this particular system is likely to be much further ahead than we see here. Given that over two and a half years have passed since then, it seems probable that Honda already has working prototypes undergoing testing, with a possible launch for the bike happening in the next twelve months.

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The system has been fairly elegantly integrated into the bike, with the actual radar sensor being fitted behind the nose of the bike – number 16 in the images above and below. Being mounted in this way, Honda could well have been clocking up many testing miles already, without anyone actually noticing it!

The move will see Honda joining Ducati, Kawasaki, Harley-Davidson, and BMW, all of which are working on radar-guided cruise control systems of one type or another. Ducati though is the only firm to actually bring a bike to market that is ready-fitted with the tech, in the form of the Multistrada V4.

With Bosch being the market leader in this type of tech, it’s already bolted its sensors onto the incoming BMW models and the Multistrada V4, it makes sense to assume that the Gold Wing system is also of Bosch design. Adding further weight to this theory is the fact that the German firm already supplies radar sensors for numerous four-wheeled Honda models that utilise radar-guided cruise control.