Thrill has a price and that is balanced with risk a motorbike rider takes while riding the motorbike. Probably, the dangers of motorbiking are more notorious than the joys and thrills of motorbiking. Ask any parent who's child asked them to buy a motorbike for them. How could the future of motorbiking possibly look like? Enter technology - Artificial intelligence and sensor-based devices that communicate with other to give the rider a safer experience.
Being a motorbike rider and enthusiast, I see the future motorbike riding going to be totally 'safe'. (Read Boring)
Google maps currently provide traffic information to cite today's working technology example at a minimalistic level.
In future, for example, a rider will get information on the surface of the roads ahead -
Is it even? Any potholes? What is the optimum speed to maintain? Based on 'Live data' gathered by sensor devices AI-based data analytics can provide the answer -"Yes, its safe to speed up to 150km/hr for the next two kilometers".
Further drill-down data on the environment can also be provided along with "What -if" scenario analysis - Would it be safe to go over 100 km/hour on the road at this point of time? What is the average speed of the vehicles within a 1km radius? Is there any vehicle that is moving without adhering to traffic rules that could pose a danger to the rider within 500 meters of the motorbike?
Sensors will be able to detect these type of vehicle movement and alert the rider to take an intelligent decision. Or similar to your current Google assistant or Siri on your phones, devices can give continuous tips and advisory as you ride your bike and are on the move so you can make decisions based on sound accurate facts leading to a much safer ride.
We have the Internet of Things(IoT) sensors that motorbike riding companies can implement and get information on the state of the motorbike in real time while it is rented out to a customer. Is he riding in low gears and damaging the engine? For the X speed that the rider is cruising, is he using the optimal gear mix? What speeds are the riders going at? Ultimately with all this data available, the rider can be classified as a good rider and a bad rider. This level of data availability can help motorbike rental companies decide on the rental price based on the style of riding of a person and also insurance companies can raise the premium for riders with a higher appetite for risky riding.This is an example of what revenue models can arise from exploiting data from a couple of kilometers on the road.
We are looking a scenario of immense unstructured data being gathered from a stretch of a few kilometers that will be part of the Big data platforms. Analytic software companies will mine these data with applications and will provide a riding guidance through paid apps. Information will be displayed on multiple devices like the rider's helmet or glasses. You might have read about BMW's concept self-balancing bikes where the rider will never fall ; )
The future motorbikes will be focused on safety, but it takes away the opportunity of the human rider to use his skill and judgment to ride a motorbike - which is the real thrill of motorbiking. Using a high level of technology as above in motorbikes is like taking the sweetness out of the chocolate, rendering it tasteless.
Ride safe.
Biker BT
