Most of us are familiar with all the safety technologies crammed into cars to try and improve safety (or sometimes make up for a lack of skills). On motorcycles, however, no such technologies as blind spot monitoring or backup cameras have been deemed necessary, and the main safety feature has always been the rider and his ability to react. That said, there's nothing wrong with an extra pair of eyes and this new pair could cover you 360 degrees.
Israeli startup Ride Vision proposes a camera system that could warn the rider of an impending crash with the help of flashing light signals. The idea is simple, but applying it to the reality of riding isn't so much. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when it comes to fitting a new system on a motorcycle. The size of the vehicle means the system has to be compact and, ideally, light so as not to add weight to the ride.
Covering all the possible angles of a vehicle as narrow as a motorcycle is also a challenge. The technology needs to be specific to the type of vehicle—for instance, you couldn't rip a lidar system off a car, stick it to a bike with duct tape and call it a night. The type of threat, the required information, and the way the vehicle acts and reacts are completely different for a car and a bike. Duh, obvious, I know, but this means the safety feature needs to be redesigned completely and adapted to a bike.
This is why Ride Vision is hoping to address that challenging reality with its Collision Aversion Technology (CAT) which just received $2.5m in funding.
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