Blind spot detection systems are omnipresent in today's automobiles. When it comes to two-wheelers, the Ducati Multistrada V4 S was the first motorcycle to offer this technology in 2021. While monitoring devices inform drivers and riders of potential dangers, the systems still leave room for human error. New Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies aim to fill this gap and limit accidents.
If advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) are becoming more widespread and are now equipping a good number of vehicles in the French fleet, and playing a positive role in the safety of users of motorized two-wheelers by avoiding certain dangerous situations, risk, their performance remains conditioned by the detection range of the sensors used (cameras, radars). In addition, their effectiveness deteriorates in the event of an obstacle between the vehicle and the object of danger.
If we look at the context, motorcyclists nevertheless remain over-represented in mortality, because assistance is limited by the behavior of other users. Indeed, when the other user is at the origin of the conflict, the analysis of reports of personal injury accidents reveals that in 63% of cases, the latter does not detect the motorcycle.
The appearance of connectivity technologies then offers the possibility of increasing the detection field around vehicles. A research project led by UTAC CERAM and funded by the MAIF Foundation proposes using technologies allowing vehicles to communicate with each other to reduce this loss, and more particularly to avoid collisions between motorcycles and cars.
For more than a decade, manufacturers and equipment suppliers have been working on the development of communication systems between vehicles, V2V (Vehicle to Vehicle), but also V2X (Vehicle to Everything).
Using inter-vehicle communication technologies, a signal is sent to drivers (car and/or motorcycle) in the event of a potential risk of collision. The collision probability is calculated from the positions and instantaneous speeds of the vehicles. In the first case, this involves warning the driver and letting him react on his own. Once the alert has been sent, in the event of no reaction from the car driver, an on-board automation takes control to avoid the collision. In this case the technology allows the vehicle to react by itself as quickly as possible. We then eliminate the driver's reaction time (1,2 seconds) between receiving an alert and his final action on the vehicle to avoid the danger.
To summarize, the objective is for each vehicle to be in contact with its environment to analyze and understand it in order to interact with it as best as possible. This is also what will make it possible to increase the autonomy levels of vehicles. Since we have entered an era where we can share our location directly with loved ones, why not put this connectivity to the service of security.
Four typical accident scenarios have been defined. Among them, the car turning left and cutting off the road of the motorcyclist coming in the opposite direction or the failure to respect priority on the right at an intersection, thus made it possible to test the effectiveness of V2X communication on the center of Linas-Montlhéry test.
In this case, the system issues an alert to the driver of the car when it detects the arrival of a motorcycle to allow him to react. If this is not the case, then the 4-wheel vehicle brakes automatically. Conversely, a motorcycle equipped with the same V2X system does not automatically intervene in the same situation, to avoid causing a loss of balance or even a fall.
“V2X has great potential in terms of road safety for motorcyclists,” noted Théo Charbonneau, director of project activities UTAC CERAM Millbrook. “It lies in particular in its ability to perceive them in the flow of traffic to inform vehicles and let them react, as a priority, which tend to be more stable on the road. »
This interconnectivity system thus represents the future of safety, concerning the reduction of accidents, a future which is approaching since the Euro NCAP organization plans to begin evaluations of these systems from 2025.
