VOL. 54 ISSUE 25 JUNE 27, 2017 P113
Bosch's regional business unit
leader Dr. Fevzi Yildirim dur-
ing his keynote address, "is for
Bosch and some of its partners
to give you a glimpse into the
future. Urbanization, sustainabil-
ity, safety and connectivity will
fundamentally change mobility
as we know it today—and the
motorcycle must therefore rede-
fine itself."
Achim Haller, of Bosch's ad-
vanced team of researchers and
developers adds, "Most things
you are about to see were top
secret up until, well, just right
now!" He laughs, then continues
with his heavy German accent.
"We want to show you new things
not yet available on the market,
but this is only one possible
future for us. Our prototypes we
will show you today are only very
rough examples and basic func-
tions. However, we ask you to
keep an open mind."
We were then asked to suit up
into our safety gear and we were
split up into smaller groups and
led by shuttles to eight separate
stations to educate us on some
of the current Bosch motorcycle
safety technologies available to-
day, some arriving to showrooms
in 2018, then finally some pure
prototype technologies currently
being developed by Bosch for a
possible future. It is indeed cool
stuff.
I feel compelled to mention
that there is so much information
gathered at each eight sta-
tions, there is enough content
to write eight separate articles,
one for each. So please forgive
me while I try to hit the most
compelling details in the most
efficient manner.
backup for homes that experi-
ence a power outage.
We got to ride a few of
Bosch's eScooters around the
grounds and naturally, they're
zippy and quiet. If you've never
ridden a two-wheeled electric
vehicle before, I highly recom-
mend trying it. It's a different
riding experience, and really
fun. In 2010, I won the TT Zero
race on the Isle of Man riding
an Oregon-based MotoCzysz
monster. Unlike these flickable
waifs of modern scooter, that
electric race bike could surpass
130 mph on the Sulby Straight,
but weighed more than a Gold
Wing. Good times!
STATION 2—ICC
(INTEGRATED CONNECTIVITY CLUSTER).
B
osch's new proprietary TFT dashboard can connect to your
smartphone via Bluetooth to receive phone calls or play music into
optional headphones/microphone fixed inside your helmet. All controls
are easily seen on the display and operated by buttons and wheels
found on your handlebars. Bosch's new TFT was also bright and crisp.
We got to test ride a 2017 KTM 1290 Super Adventure R demo bike
with this technology installed, listen to music and take a phone call, and
it all worked flawlessly.
It works so good, in fact, that the 2017 CES show in Las Vegas
awarded Bosch with the Gold Shield for Best of Innovation in Vehicle
Audio & Video.
The dash now
becomes much
more than a
mechanism
to tell you
your speed.
Connectivity to
an incredible
range of
applications is
now a reality.
