Cycle News

Cycle News Issue 25 June 27, 2017

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/842139

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FEATURE BOSCH MOTORCYCLE TECHNOLOGIES P114 STATION 4—CONNECTED INTO THE FUTURE. C onnected Into The Future, in its prototype phase, effectively means your bike gets equipped with a Bosch Connectivity Control Unit that commu- nicates with many of the other sensors and systems on the bike as well as Data Recording, and then inter- acts with the Cloud through your smartphone to provide real time maps, weather, road hazards, speed limits, traffic information, most probable path and upcom- ing sharp corner alerts (via audio), etc. There is also a SIM Card embedded inside the con- trol unit which establishes a voice and data connection to a paid service provider, a live person, sitting some- where monitoring if you need assistance even if you were rendered uncon- scious. The system works off WLAN. Emergency eCall (mandatory for all new passenger cars and light- truck models throughout the European Union from April 2018), Stolen Vehicle Tracking and Breakdown Call (bCall), also come with the package. We were offered to ride a bike fitted with a proto- type version of the Sharp Curve Alert. Minutes later I was snaking down a twisty kart track when a women's voice started alerting me inside my demo helmet to slow down, "Sharp corner approaching!" "Good!" I replied. It's very early days with this prototype, but I think to fully implement it correctly Bosch is going to have to come up with a way so that the annoying women's voice is not barking advice into our ears too often, or we'll just end up tuning her out like we sometimes do with our mothers. (Above) A warning system integrated into the smartphone app will be able to identify hazards before you reach them. (Left) Having an automatic emergency call function for when a rider crashes is bound to save countless lives.

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