Collision detection systems that can automatically detect a motorcycle fall and call for help are already available on the market, but Honda is working on a more advanced variant that can tell if you are really injured or not.
Several companies, including Triumph and BMW, already have automatic emergency call systems as an option on their motorcycles, using various sensors either on the machine itself or on its mobile phone to determine if an accident has occurred and call for help if certain parameters are met. Apple's latest iPhones and Watches even have their own collision detection systems. But Honda's latest design, revealed in a new patent application from the company, is smarter.
The system, like others, uses sensors that are already present on many motorcycles, as well as the user's cell phone, but Honda's setup adds a helmet-mounted Bluetooth dongle and takes information from all three devices – the phone, the helmet and the motorcycle — to decide if the rider needs help. The first step is a simple tilt sensor located on the motorcycle itself. It is triggered if it detects a lean angle that exceeds the norms for daily driving, i.e. as soon as the motorcycle falls. But since you probably don't want an ambulance showing up after embarrassingly crashing your motorcycle in a parking lot, there's more to it than that.
At this point, most systems use crash sensors and algorithms to decide whether there has been an impact that could be dangerous, then start by calling the driver's own phone or trigger a warning on the phone, letting the time to cancel the call to emergency services before. Honda wants to remove this step and its solution to the problem is remarkably simple, using communication between the phone, motorcycle and helmet to deduce whether you're lying motionless on the ground or not.
Using local communication like Bluetooth, the unit on the motorcycle can indicate the position of your phone and the helmet's Bluetooth dongle relative to itself, and how the phone and dongle are positioned relative to each other. the other. If this relationship shows that the rider is moving and his head is above the phone and sensor on the motorcycle, and the ignition is turned off after the accident, then it is reasonably clear that you are not lying unconscious on the ground, so that the automatic call to emergency services is not made. If, on the other hand, the sensors show that your headset and phone are on the ground and not moving, then the call can be triggered.
The system is actually more complex than that, checking the speed before the accident, whether the distances between the motorcycle, helmet and phone change over time, and even whether the phone or helmet is trapped under the motorcycle and in taking these elements into account in the decision-making process. There is always a check before the emergency call is made, allowing you to cancel it, but without a response from the pilot, the system is better placed to make a judgment and even pass on information about your condition to doctors before their arrival.
The system is still in the patent stage, but it gives a clue as to how the interconnected devices that so many modern motorcycles already use can be given a second job in the event of an accident.
