VOLUME 58 ISSUE 8 FEBRUARY 23, 2021 P99
radar receives full U.S. homologation, but
to experience the radar in action doesn't
make it any less impressive.
The next factor in the radar system is
one every motorcycle should have from
now on. The dreaded blind spot accident
has been a bane of riders for generations,
and now Ducati is the first to implement
the warning system for production ma-
chines. For the Blind Spot Detection to
work, you need to be traveling at least 15
mph, with less than 33 degrees of lean
angle, have ABS on level two or more, and
Ducati Traction Control (DTC) activated.
The BSD system works via the rear
radar that sits beneath the seat unit, above
the number plate. If a vehicle is sitting in
your blind spot, which is about 90 degrees
to the direction of travel, you'll get a bright
yellow light emitting on the corner of that
side's rear view mirror. And if you then put
your indicator on in an effort to change
lanes, the light will flash quickly, so much
that it's impossible to ignore. It's not as
mind blowing as the ACC, but the BSD is
arguably more important to the survival of
motorcycle riders on the road.
It's all controlled via the new 6.5-inch
Human Machine Interface (HMI) TFT
display, a feature Ducati is very proud
of. The engineers have spent a huge
amount of time trying to make the user
experience a better one when it relates
to phone mirroring, navigation, calls and
vehicle dynamics adjustment, and I won't
bore you to tears with every little thing
you can do within the dash, because
we'd be here for a day.
The main feature is the new partner-
ship with navigation company Sygic,
which works in conjunction with the
Ducati Connect app, and the USB con-
nector located in a neat little compart-
ment behind the fuel cap.
The Sygic nagivation app is pretty easy
to use but takes a bit of playing around if
you're used to Google Maps, for ex-
ample. The dash will let you program
your music, but it sadly won't let you play
songs off Spotify like you can with Apple
CarPlay, which, at least for me, is a real
bummer.
