Earlier this year Kawasaki announced it would be working on artificial intelligence – AI – for bikes. At the time it didn’t reveal how it would work but now the firm has created a video to demonstrate what it believes the future will be like.
Effectively it appears to be a ‘connected’ bike, always connected to the internet and using vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. Throw in a voice control system rather like Siri, Amazon’s Alexa or Microsoft’s Cortana and you have the basis for an AI bike.
The video demonstrates how the bike could use vehicle-to-infrastructure communication to tell you when traffic lights are going to change. It also shows vehicle-to-vehicle coms, warning of an oncoming car before it’s in sight.
That’s all technology that’s already on the horizon, with several car and bike firms working on it.
Another idea in the video shows how the bike could judge the road and weather conditions and suggest a suitable riding mode for the engine and suspension. It also warns of approaching rain and even takes photos of the ride to send to you smartphone.
Of course, none of it is real yet. Kawasaki has partnered with SoftBank to help create the technology to make it work, though.
BMW is also developing similar systems, adding even more tech including a helmet-mounted head-up display. And with the ‘internet of things’ fast becoming a reality, it should be no surprise to discover that bikes will be a part of it.
The voice control tech, and the fact the bike talks back, inevitably brings images of Knight Rider to mind. Kawasaki’s demonstration video even includes a pulsating light on the bike’s dash that reflects the speech patterns of the computer. Just like the one KITT had on TV all those years ago.
It might all seem a bit pie-in-the-sky at the moment but the fast adoption of voice control tech in homes thanks to things like the Amazon Echo and Google Home means that could appear much sooner than any of us expect.