Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[wavelet]

Looking at this system it seems it will alert you by LED lights on the dash or vibrating handle bars. But those warnings might take your eyes off the road ahead at a time when you can least afford to do that to check out some sort of warning indicator on your dash. On my Energica Ribelle when I am looking at my speed the road ahead is mostly out of my vision. I would think on the surface a HUD type display on a helmet visor would work better for warning a rider of dangers ahead. But no question this brings in another complete set of challenges. There are going to be trade-offs either way. My Garmin GPS warns me of almost every turn in the road and to maintain the legal speed limit. These warnings go away after a few seconds or you can acknowledge them which requires taking your hands off the handlebars, not always a good idea. But the GPS is positioned so it is out of my vision when my eyes are on the road so very easy to ignore. It will be interesting to read riders experiences with this system once they are shipping bikes out to customers.

Damon say that the way they have their system designed, the warning lights are at the periphery of the rider's vision, so you don't need to look at them directly, and that the location of the LED moves according to the severity of the threat (e.g., when approaching closer to the car in front of you). (*)
I'd love to try this out in person, to feel whether this and the handlebar vibration are indeed intuitive and don't add too much to the rider's sensory input; It would also be interesting what human-factors/MMI experts familiar with motorcycles think. I can see potential customization issues: The width of the field of vision (in degrees) isn't identical for all people, so in theory ideally  the location of the LEDs  would be customizable; also the degree of haptic feedback might need to be customized to the thickness of gloves worn.

(*) Incidentally, this is also why analog speedos are better than a digital one: What matters isn't the actual exact speed as whether you are slowing or speeding up, and by how much (rate of deceleration/acceleration), and you don't need to focus on an analog speedo for that: Seeing it peripherally is enough.

[NEW2elec]

Let me see if I can clear this up some.
The LEDs are incorporated into the back edge of the sport bike style windscreen.  So if your in a tuck you will be down near the windscreen which will put the LED blind spot lights where you can see them but not in your way.
It's no more intrusive than the clear plastic windscreen would otherwise be.

The haptic handle grip feed back is reserved for frontal impacts.  If your looking toward the side, maybe trying to change lanes, and naturally you wouldn't be looking in front of you.  If the car in front does a hard brake or a person from another lane shoots in front of you, then the grips vibrate.

Really a simple but helpful system that does address the fact that it shouldn't take your attention away from riding.

[Crissa]

I think it sounds cool and intuitive; the edge of the windscreen is usually in my field of view, unlike the dash.

-Crissa

[wavelet]

I think it sounds cool and intuitive; the edge of the windscreen is usually in my field of view, unlike the dash.

-Crissa

++
That's why I also liked the concept when initially reading about it; I have yet to see a picture/visualization of what it looks like from the rider's viewpoint.
I also hope their rearwards view is presented as a 2D bird's-eye view from above the bike -- IMO that's much easier to interpret quickly than a rear-view mirror's 3D view backwards.
In fact, I think cars could greatly benefit from that as well, instead of currently having such a view only for a parking camera when in reverse gear.

[NEW2elec]

Here's a quick video from Damon.  The red LED curved strip is what goes on the windscreen.  Flashes red for forward warning and left or right side yellow for blind spot warning.

[wavelet]

Here's a quick video from Damon.  The red LED curved strip is what goes on the windscreen.  Flashes red for forward warning and left or right side yellow for blind spot warning.

Thanks for that -- I've seen either that one or a longer version before, but couldn't find it again. I seem to recall that there were were multiple red LEDs on each side of the strip, and the lighted part would move progressive closer to the middle of the strip the closer (time-wise) forward impact was, but maybe I'm mis-remembering.
I do think  actual camera views of blind spots aren't a good idea (if indeed the brief look 10sec into the clip represents the actual rider display), since they add too much info for a rider to process.

What I'd really like is a full cockpit mockup, but we'll have to wait patiently for that; I'm sure they'll demonstrate it.