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, The Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) of Kerala, India, has decided to ban helmet-mounted cameras.

  • Helmet-mounted cameras is seen as distraction by Kerala’s MVD.
  • Some riders used the camera to record dangerous stunts and shared them on social media. 

The details were leaked to the public from an internal memo circulated among MVD officials.

According to the documents, riders caught using helmet-mounted cameras will face a penalty of INR1,000 (RM56) with driving licenses suspended for 3-months.

Kerala’s MVD brought up the proposed ban on helmet-mounted cameras last year. The department claimed that the equipment could distract riders, leading to accidents.

However, in the latest report, the ban is an effort by Kerala’s MVD to crack down on riders recording their dangerous stunts and sharing it on social media, which could lead to others imitating the same stunt.

Nonetheless, riders may still be allowed to mount their cameras elsewhere – handlebars or jackets – as some riders still need the recorded videos, which can be used as video evidence in case of accidents.

Honda wants to take another technology from the world of cars and put it into bikes.

  • The Lane Keep Assist is currently a widely known feature for cars.
  • It keeps the vehicle in the lane with the help of radars and cameras.

This time around, the Japanese firm is developing a new Keep Lane Assist Technology for motorcycles.

For those who don’t know how it works, in cars, the lane-keep assist features keep you in the lane on the highway with the help of radar sensors and cameras. The cameras detect the lines on the road to ensure that you are always in the lane, and if the car is moving away, the corresponding input brings the vehicle back into the line.

While the system might seem too fancy for bikes, Honda is not the only brand currently working on semi-autonomous technology.

The Ducati Multistrada V4 is also fitted with radars that allow the bike to be equipped with Adaptive Cruise Control. Also, Yamaha is currently testing a new generation Tracer 9 GT with the same features.

While Ducati and Yamaha fit the system on a tourer, Honda, on the other hand, plans to include the technology on just about any type of motorcycle.

According to reports, the system will be installed on the bike’s triple clamp, similar to a steering damper. However, in this case, the damper rod will be replaced by an actuator.

However, the actuator isn’t just a motor, instead uses a magnetostrictive torque sensor to measure the input on the bars. The motor will then read the steering input and adjust it accordingly.

Meanwhile, the camera will read whether the bike is moving away from the lane and affirms that there is no input on the bars from the rider. As such, the system will counter-steer the motorcycle back into the lane.

Despite the complexity, the system is designed to be unnoticeable and disengages immediately after the bike is back in the lane.

Although the Lane Keep Assist feature is still under development, we might get to see the new technology soon enough. If we’re lucky, Honda might showcase the technology at this year’s EICMA show in Milan.

(Source: CycleWorld)

Patent indicates Honda’s development of a Blind Spot Warning System for bikes using both cameras and radars.

(more…)

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