A few years ago, Honda created the Rider Assist and Rider Assist E concepts, which can self-balance and travel at close to walking speed, although the concept bikes have long been a bit distant from the real world. The good news is that Honda has recently filed a patent for an automatic steering function in its mass-produced motorcycles that could prevent some accidents. Here's how it works.

Yamaha, in addition to Honda, has been developing automatic steering for active safety systems, but Honda's recently filed patent is more feasible.

The patent describes a motorcycle with a steering execution system to steer the front wheels, a control unit to control the steering execution system, a determinate measurement unit to determine whether the vehicle has collided, and a measurement unit to monitor whether the bike has a rider at the moment. The patent covers a front-wheel steering structure, an electric control system and two measurement components, one to detect if the vehicle is in a collision and one to detect if there is a person on the motorcycle.

Honda's patented automatic steering system operates on the principle that, in the event of a collision, the cyclist has fallen off the bike, but the bike remains upright and continues to move forward without control. They believe this will reduce the number of secondary injuries caused by the bike hitting the rider, which is common in both sports and everyday motorcycle accidents.

To realize this principle, Honda is using models that are no longer in production. The self-steering system consists of a gyroscope sensor, camera, radar and lidar (for light detection and range detection), and uses lasers to model the surrounding environment for better identification. These hardware devices eventually connect to the CPU and determine in real time whether there's been a crash and whether there's someone in the seat.

And these cameras, radar and lidar through the CPU and vehicle central control connection, can also do with the throttle, brake and front wheel automatic steering associated, and achieve the purpose of controlling the direction and speed of the motorcycle, but also can effectively avoid bumping into other prohibited objects or vehicles around the possibility.

Of course, the system essentially reduces secondary injuries, and if there is no risk of hitting nearby objects, the system will order the bike to fall on its own. The technology is still in the engineering validation stage, and it will be some time before it is officially unveiled to the public.

In recent years, there are many actions like Honda motorcycle to reduce the safety risks of motorcycle riding through technological means, including the autonomous driving of BMW motorcycle. After all, the motorcycle industry will have a better development prospect only when the risks of driving motorcycles are small.