AN automotive tech firm has revealed its plans for future two-wheeled transportation at the CES event in Las Vegas, as the Intellias self-balancing motorcycle concept is launched.
Motorcycle manufacturers have been banging on about self-balancing motorcycles for a while now, with Yamaha and its MOTOBOT and more recently Honda with its Riding Assist-E system. What makes the Intellias system though is interesting in that it isn’t being touted by a mainstream manufacturer. That leaves the door open for the firm to flog the tech to multiple manufacturers further down the line.
How does the Intellias self-balancing motorcycle work?
The Intellias system includes a bunch of sensors that cover the bike from nose to tail. They are there to detect the angle of lean and velocity of a bike’s tilt as it drops into a corner. This data is then used by actuators that can counteract any imbalance by moving the handlebar to lift and stabilize the bike. The system is claimed to make riding at slow speeds easier and allows a motorcycle to manoeuvre autonomously without a rider.
Now, in a tech-laden utopia that all sounds well and good, although I can’t help feeling that the corrections made by the bike while riding would be akin to a car continuing to self-steer when you don’t want it to. Imagine riding down a country lane that you know well. You tip the bike into a corner and then an imaginary pillion passenger counter-steers in the other direction without any warning…
Scary thought, isn’t it?
