VOLUME 58 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 23, 2021 P97
IT'S ALL ABOUT
THE RADAR
Okay, now to the bit we've all been waiting for.
The big news for the 2021 Ducati Multistrada
V4 S is the inclusion of a front and rear radar that
mitigates the function of the first production motor-
cycle Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Blind Spot
Detection (BSD) systems.
The ACC features four levels of distance control to
the car in front and is constantly on when you engage
cruise control (so, no traditional cruise control where
you set your speed and have to monitor it yourself).
It works thusly: You're traveling down the mo-
torway and engage cruise control at 75 mph, with
level three. You gradually close the gap to the
car in front, get to within a certain distance but
no closer. The radar holds you there. As the car
speeds up, so do you (up to your chosen 75 mph).
As the car slows down, the radar sends a signal to
the ECU to gradually close the throttle bodies and
a apply a little front and rear brake pressure to slow
you and keep you at the distance dictated by your
chosen setting of level three.
Then it comes time to overtake. You turn on your
indicator, move to the left out of the radar's field of
vision, and over the next five or so seconds, the
Multistrada gradually increases speed with no extra
input from your throttle hand to 75 mph, you pass
the car and pull back into your lane. It may have
taken 26 years for the technology to arrive in motor-
cycles, and it's not going to be until July that the
Superbike
stoppers in the
Brembo Stylema
calipers are
all the braking
power you'll
ever need, and
are almost too
much for off-
road riding.
