Safety has always been a top priority in the car and bike world, ‘coz duh, we all need to be alive to keep driving and riding. These days, the push for safety has brought about tons of innovations—cars that come standard with all sorts of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), even on cheaper, bottom-dollar options.
The story’s pretty much the same when you lop two wheels off and get into motorcycles. Bikes with crazy tech like radar-powered adaptive cruise control, collision detection, and lean-sensitive ABS and traction control are quickly becoming the norm, too.
This leads me to ask myself: are we reaching a point where safety technology is crossing over into overkill territory, so much so that it might actually not be as safe as we initially thought?
Hear me out.
In the automotive industry, all cars sold in the US will need to come with AEB—autonomous emergency braking—by 2029. This means all cars will need to be equipped with all the fancy gizmos that allow them to see ahead and automatically apply the brakes and come to a stop, all without a single bit of input from the driver. It’s all pretty weird, and I’ve experienced it for myself with my Mazda2 equipped with AEB. I was curious one afternoon and decided to hang a blanket up on a clothesline. I drove straight toward the blanket, and voila, my little red hatchback came to an abrupt stop.
And tire magnate Goodyear’s throwing in tech to make AEB even smarter, too. It recently showcased new tires that come embedded with a bunch of sensors. These sensors are meant to communicate with a vehicle’s AEB system, informing it of various road conditions such as temperature, traction level, and even wet or icy surfaces. This extra information could help the AEB work smarter by braking sooner (or later, assuming traction’s optimal) to bring the vehicle to a stop danger-free.
For cars, this tech makes sense, but for bikes? Perhaps not so much.
You see, riding a motorcycle is an inherently active experience. Every single movement of your body can and will affect the movement of the bike. Your hands and fingers control the throttle, brakes, clutch, as well as give steering inputs. Your legs grip the tank, shift gears, and actuate the rear brake. And yes, riding is as physical as it is mental, and I’d go as far as saying that it’s the closest union between man and machine us mere mortals are capable of enjoying on a regular basis.
Plus, for many riders—myself included—riding a bike is all about freedom, simplicity, and simply engaging the senses. And so, adding too much tech undoubtedly dilutes the experience. Sure, adaptive cruise control makes sense on long, boring rides on the freeway, but being able to adjust the throttle manually at a moment’s notice is a skill every rider should have mastered long before they venture out into the open road.
My point here is that all this safety tech isn’t bad. It’s just that it has the potential to breed a lazy, and potentially dangerous, generation of riders; riders who are dependent on this tech to ride safely. Because just like all pieces of tech, this too can fail, and when it does, what’s going to happen? Folks won’t be able to stop, turn, and accelerate anymore?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m by no means against safety tech on bikes. All my bikes have ABS and traction control, and I’d prefer that the bikes I ride be equipped with at least these two features. But if you were to ask me if I could ride cross-country on a bike without ABS and TC, my answer would be a resounding yes.
So here’s the big question: Do motorcycles really need all this tech? Or are companies and manufacturers just innovating for the sake of innovation, and eventually dilute the essence of riding so much that it’s no longer special? I’d love to know what you think. Share your thoughts in the comments below.
