[Video] Autonomous scooter: for research … and our future trips ?

AB Dynamics and AutoRD are two English companies which are currently working on a single prototype of an unmanned scooter. But their objectives differ: the first wants to perfect the development of autonomous vehicles, the second wants to create the first driverless motorcycle taxi. ! Explanations.

Founded in 1982, AB Dynamics designs test equipment and protocols for the automotive industry: "today, we count among our customers the 25 leading world manufacturers, the seven Euro NCAP laboratories and numerous government control agencies", congratulate English society.

Based in Wiltshire – a few turns of the wheel from the "famous" megalithic monument Stonehenge – this company enables major car brands to develop their cutting-edge technologies in active safety and autonomous driving. His latest find? An autonomous scooter.

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In a video released on April 11 (see below), AB Dynamics unveils its unmanned, radio-controlled motorcycle prototype. The company demonstrates to its customers – the future? – that its machine is capable of both running at low or high speed, of taking precise and predefined trajectories, and of coordinating with other test vehicles.

“To date, we have proven that the technology works,” says Richard Simpson, Chief Engineer: “We are now looking for potential customers who would like to help us develop this project. If you think a self-driving motorcycle could be useful for your tests, do not hesitate to contact us ".

There are many interests for car manufacturers: limiting – or even eliminating – the use of motorcycle riders during potentially dangerous tests, increasing the degree of precision of the tests by scrupulously reproducing the trajectories, speeds and reactions of the motorcycle, erasing the variable fatigue, etc..

Bikers would also be winners since this guinea pig – a BMW C1 scooter currently, but the English plan to create other versions – would eventually offer better consideration of motorized two-wheelers from cars without driver driver.

Finally, some motorcycle brands could also be interested in such autonomous systems in order to simplify the development of their future models. Except maybe Honda and Yamaha, who have already unveiled their own autonomous motorcycles. ?!

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The development of new machines indeed includes tedious endurance or road holding tests: tests that are as trying for the machines as they are for the testers! The latter would gladly leave these tasks to a robot to concentrate on other work: finding a new job, for example. ?!

C1 "fake"? No. Absolutely not.

By learning about this new project, the Journal moto du Net quickly discovered that the prototype presented by AB Dynamics was in fact produced in collaboration with Auto RD, another English box which has been working for a few years on an autonomous C1….

"Why a C1? Because we couldn’t afford a Panigale. Or because we couldn’t afford to drop it anyway," jokes the founder and CEO, Torquil Ross-Martin, before detail the strengths of this roof scooter released in 2000 … and only "released" three years later from the BMW catalog !

“We needed something that had stowage space and good payload capacity to transport the autonomous system, which could also accommodate the sensors at height to mimic the pilot’s view,” says Ross. -Martin.

This doctor in "active suspension design", a former pilot and eternal lover of Italian motorcycles, was also won over by the simpler automatic transmission, the safer ABS and the more reassuring protection of the possible passenger. But for what, exactly?

"We considered that if we wanted to test the range with a passenger on board, we had to select a motorcycle that offers a high degree of protection against collisions. In this, frankly, nothing comes close to the C1", estimates the scientist -a-little-crazy, determined to place a guy on his machine !

Autonomous motorcycle taxis soon ?

This time, in fact, the inventor is not joking at all: "a lot of efforts are currently being devoted to the development of autonomous cars. One of the first and most profitable applications will be driverless taxis," he predicts..

"However, large cities dominated by motorized two-wheelers, such as Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam, Editor’s note), will need driverless motorcycle taxis," said Torquil Ross-Martin. But "AutoRD intends to be the first in the world to offer such a vehicle".

But according to him, these motorcycle taxis of the future – near or far? – will not remain confined to South-East Asia for long: "as congestion continues to increase and autonomous systems make roads increasingly safe, the number of travelers wanting to use these compact vehicles and energy efficient to avoid traffic jams will increase rapidly in cities all over the world ".

Getting carried around on a motorcycle by a robot? The majority of bikers may find it difficult to accept – or even consider – this possibility! But other people could be tempted: the followers of taxi or VTC (car) who have full the ass back traffic jams, or motorcycle taxi customers who squeeze their buttocks because of the conduct of certain freaks. MNC crosses paths too often around Paris…

Three weeks ago, AutoRD rolled out its autonomous C1 with passenger, precisely: “they loved it!”, Assures the company to its “friends”, partners and prospects via its Facebook page. Business to follow: stay connected !

Video of the C1 autonomous scooter

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