Cars have had Active Cruise Control systems for quite a long time but motorcycles haven’t been so lucky. Understandably so, if you think about the limitations motorcycles come with in terms of size. However, today BMW announced that it will be offering this driving assistant for its future bikes, developed in collaboration with its tech partner, Bosch.
The new system will work just like it does on a car. The rider will select the speed and distance he or she wants for the bike and the Adaptive Cruise Control system will take care of the rest thus drastically improving the comfort of a longer journey. The system automatically regulates the vehicle speed when the distance to the vehicle in front is reduced and keeps the distance defined by the rider.
This distance can be varied in three stages. Both the riding speed as well as the distance to the vehicle in front can be set conveniently using a button. The individual settings are displayed on the TFT instrument cluster.
The new BMW Motorrad ACC has two control characteristics: comfortable or dynamic, in which the acceleration and deceleration behavior is changed accordingly. The distance control can also be deactivated in order to be able to use the Dynamic Cruise Control (DCC).
Another interesting tidbit is that when cornering, the speed is automatically reduced by the ACC if required and a comfortable lean angle is aimed at. With an increasing lean angle, however, the braking and acceleration dynamics are limited in order to maintain a stable rideability and not to unsettle the rider with abrupt braking or acceleration.
The new ACC only responds to moving vehicles. Stationary vehicles – like at the end of a traffic jam or at traffic lights – are not considered. In such cases, the rider has to do the braking.
