Feasibility study of motorcycle autonomous emergency braking system

Over the last years, the development of new technologies and active safety systems for on-road vehicles contributed to mitigate the burden of road traffic crashes. This, unfortunately, did not fully apply to Powered Two-Wheelers (PTWs), for which the technological development was slowed down by their complex dynamics, smaller research interests and lower vehicle cost. Despite PTWs have one of the highest rates of crashes per kilometre travelled, their distribution is growing all over the world, thanks to their affordability and their agility in congested traffic environments, causing every year many crashes and fatalities. After the introduction of Antilock Braking System (ABS), which already showed its efficacy in preventing crashes, several studies indicated that Motorcycle Autonomous Emergency Braking (MAEB), which is the PTW derivative of the passenger car Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), is the most promising technology to mitigate PTW crashes among those currently in development. This technology, which deploys autonomously a braking action to reduce impact speed when an imminent collision is detected, was shown to be potentially effective and widely applicable in PTW crashes. However, to introduce such a system on standard PTWs, the riding conditions in which it can be applicable and its working parameters must be identified to maximise crash mitigation effects while not reducing PTW controllability and safety. This requires designing MAEB intervention in accordance with riders’ capabilities to manage the vehicle in pre-crash conditions. The present work aimed to investigate the real-world applicability of MAEB and its acceptability among end-users. The goal of this study was to identify pre-crash riding conditions and system intervention parameters which can make MAEB applicable in real-world crashes, accepted by end-users and effective in mitigating injuries. For this purpose, a field test campaign conducted within the EU founded PIONEERS project was carried out, involving 35 participants and two test vehicles provided with automatic braking devices able to simulate MAEB intervention in realistic riding conditions. The results of this field test campaign, analysed through different publications, indicate the safe applicability of MAEB in conditions representative of real-world riding. The designed MAEB working parameters resulted capable to reduce vehicle speed while guaranteeing the controllability of the PTW with limited effort required to the rider. The end-users who tested the system indicated good acceptability of MAEB encouraging its final development and its implementation on standard vehicles. Finally, the potential benefits of MAEB application in real-world crashes have been estimated through real-world crashes simulations, highlighting the relevant impact of MAEB in terms of injury and fatality mitigation potential.