Kawasaki building a “smart bike”

According to what we can gather from this web page, Kawasaki is working on some sort of “smart bike” technology.

Thanks to the inaccuracy of Google Translate and our own inability to read Japanese, all the details aren’t 100 per cent clear. But here’s the gist of it: Kawasaki is working on an artificial intelligence system that will match a motorcycle to its rider. Although it’s a little tough to slog through the garbled translation, it seems Kawasaki plans to build an AI that identifies the emotions and capabilities of the rider aboard the bike, and delivers an appropriate riding experience that also fits existing road conditions.

Hrm. Self-driving cars are already a thing, and it was only a matter of time before something along these lines showed up in the motorcycle world (it already has, if you count Yamaha’s Motobot). But Kawasaki does seem intent to retain some measure of rider control over the motorcycle’s actions, which is a good thing. While your average commuter (especially the ones stuck in the 401 for two hours each way) may not care who is in control of their car, it’s kind of a big deal to motorcyclists.