BMW continues to plan more connectivity into their motorcycles, with talk of a new motorcycle SOS system.
BMW is calling their plan an “intelligent emergency call system.” Onboard sensors would detect a collision, and call an emergency service to respond to the crash. Riders would also be able to manually initiate the call, or cancel the call in the event of a less severe crash (the system is supposed to be able to differentiate between the severity of accidents). A severe crack-up would also trigger the system to place a call to a BMW call centre.
Why this idea? Why now? There’s two reasons BMW is bringing this to market. First, in the ever-increasing grasp of the EU’s nanny state, this tech is going to be required on new cars sold in Europe, starting in 2018. BMW is already developing the technology for their cars, so it’s not much of a stretch to include it on their bikes.
Which brings up the second point: As a manufacturer, it’s possibly BMW is doing more than anyone else to bring motorcycle safety into the twenty-first century. While riders can debate the usefulness of vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems or cornering ABS, BMW seems determined to move them forward. The Beemer of the future is going to be a bike that has greatly changed the odds against motorcycle safety. Chance is a variable nobody can eliminate, but BMW is doing their best.
BMW says they plan to bring this system to their motorcycles as an option for German-market models starting in 2017. After that, they’ll start introducing it in other markets. In congested Europe, it may increase first responder times, but it’s usefulness may be lessened in rural Canada, where cell coverage isn’t always available (the system requires a cellphone signal to work).
It’s also worth noting that there are already smartphone apps on the market that claim to offer similar services, which would work just fine with the bike you already have in your garage …
Awesome
OK as long as it could be disabled by the user. On Star is one of the reasons I don’t buy GM anymore.
Cellular only… #priceisrightlosinghorn
Precisely Joel, precisely – more answers to questions that no one asked….
At what price ? Like all technologies there is a cost factor.
At what cost TK? Whatever the additional $$ on the price of the bike the real cost will be when the system is tweaked enough to report excessive speed or some other behaviour deemed inappropriate. This will then be integrated with the hud display they’re working on and being linked to google or whoever to alert the rider to the fact that today is turkey day at the Subway “restaurant” you’re approaching where you can grab a bite while you wait for the cop to come and present you with the ticket.