Currently reading: New JLR safety technology to prevent bike collisions

Bike Sense will use a combination of colours, sounds and touch to alert drivers to potential hazards

Jaguar Land Rover is developing new safety technology to help prevent collisions with bicycles and motorbikes.

'Bike Sense' will use a combination of colour, sound and touch inside the car to alert drivers to potential hazards before they see it.

JLR says the system will be able to distinguish between bicycles and motorbikes, and it will use lights and sounds the driver associates with danger to help prevent accidents.

LED lights in the cabin will let the driver know where the bike is, and a motorbike horn or bicycle bell sound will be played in the speaker nearest the bike.

Bike Sense will prioritise hazards when there are numerous cyclists, motorbikes or pedestrians around the car, and when the car is parked the door handle will light up and vibrate if there is a danger of opening the door into the path of a bike.

The system will also be able to identify hazards that are obscured by a stationary vehicle.

“Bike Sense takes us beyond the current technologies of hazard indicators and icons in wing mirrors, to optimising the location of light, sound and touch to enhance this intuition," said Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology at JLR.

"This creates warnings that allow a faster cognitive reaction as they engage the brain’s instinctive responses.

"If you see the dashboard glowing red in your peripheral vision, you will be drawn to it and understand straight away that another road user is approaching that part of your vehicle,” he added.

With nearly 19,000 cyclists killed or injured on British roads every year, JLR think that Bike Sense will aid drivers' instinctive awareness of danger.

“By engaging the instincts, Bike Sense has the potential to bridge the gap between the safety and hazard detection systems in the car and the driver and their passengers," said Epple. “This could reduce the risk of accidents with all road users by increasing the speed of response and ensuring the correct action is taken to prevent an accident happening.”

Get the latest car news, reviews and galleries from Autocar direct to your inbox every week. Enter your email address below:

Join the debate

Comments
7
Add a comment…
RedRob 21 January 2015

Need more negative reinforcement

I agree that instead of relying on all this light and sound stuff, drivers (and cyclists) need to be more switched on in the first place - they could learn a lot from many motorcyclists.
How about a system that, rather than lighting up in pretty colours when it thinks a driver might do something dangerous, waits until they have and then administers an electric shock. After a few occasions, I'm pretty confident they won't do it again...
It could also be extended to other anti-social activities, such as tailgating, or switching fog lights on when it's not foggy.
jamesf1 20 January 2015

pistachio and 289 have it right

Better that road users pay attention.
JLR would be better putting working locks on their cars than this
Pistachio 20 January 2015

why is driver using a mobile device?

or is he getting out of the car ? in which case he should use his eyes and pay attention