Future Honda motorcycles could feature cameras and radar based rider assistance technology

Radar-based rider-assistance technology has been a hot field of development in recent years and has introduced ideas like adaptive cruise control and auto-braking crash mitigation to the world of motorcycles. 

However, despite building its reputation on cutting-edge tech, Honda still hasn’t joined the fray. That’s likely to change soon and unlike their purely radar-based rivals, Honda’s system looks increasingly likely to use stereoscopic cameras to scan the road ahead. 

The technology that’s expected to form the basis of future Honda ARAS (Advanced Riding Assistance Systems) is under development at Hitachi Astemo, a company that you might not have heard of but one that’s been created specifically to help integrate the increasingly complex systems used on modern bikes.  

Under the Astemo banner, three famous motorcycling names – Showa, Nissin and Keihin – were brought together in 2021, with Honda and electronics giant Hitachi owning the new company.  

It’s strong combination, with Hitachi Automotive Systems suppling the electronics expertise, Showa specialising in suspension, Nissin focussing on brakes and Keihin on fuel injection: all elements that need to work together on modern bikes with the latest electronic rider assist technology. 

One of the longest-running projects since the company has been a forward-facing stereo camera system for motorcycles, which is intended to work alongside or in place of a radar to create a more complete picture of the road ahead for rider assistance systems like adaptive cruise control.   

The latest prototype for the system, shown on a Honda Africa Twin, is even able to monitor the state of the road surface ahead, alerting the rider or even adjusting the suspension, ABS, traction control and engine mapping before the bike reaches the surface. 

Two cameras, one on each side of the bike’s nose, feed information back to the ARAS computer, creating a stereo image that lets it recognise the distance to obstacles or vehicles ahead. 

Astemo specifically notes the potential risk of hitting an unnoticed speed bump, and how the camera-based system can intervene in that situation, but the cameras could similarly be used to detect changes in surface or to recognise a wet road. 

Like the purely radar-based systems already used by companies including Ducati, BMW, KTM, Kawasaki and Yamaha, the Astemo ARAS will be able to operate forward collision warning (alerts for the rider, as well as emergency brake assist that helps maximise the rider’s own braking efforts, and automatic emergency braking (AEB) that actively starts to brake if the rider fails to do it themselves.  

Like our own eyes, the stereoscopic cameras – one on each side of the bike’s headlight – give depth perception, allowing the bike to judge the distance to vehicles or obstacles ahead.  

Stereo cameras are already well proven for car-based ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), with Tesla’s ‘Autopilot’ notably using cameras rather than radar.  

Subaru also champions cameras for the ‘EyeSight’ driver assistance systems. While radars have an edge in poor conditions, looking through fog or rain unhindered, cameras have the bonus of being able to identify colours and lights.  

That means the system can identify what it has seen instead of simply detecting there’s something there, and can spot road markings or changes in road surface that wouldn’t be noticed by radar.  

It also means brake lights and traffic lights can be reacted to depending on their illumination or colour – again an area where radar can’t compete. Using cameras and radar can give the best of both worlds. 

In a nod to production practicality, the cameras each have removable, transparent cover that blends with the fairing and is easily and cheaply replaced if it gets stone-chipped.  

Honda and Hitachi each own 40% of Astemo, and Hitachi is an established supplier of automotive radar systems, suggesting radar could also be used alongside the cameras.  

Showa, owned by Astemo, already makes advanced semi-active suspension, so can be allied to the camera system to pre-emptively adjust the damping if the cameras see a change in road surface. 

Brake-maker Nissin and fuel injection company Keihin are also owned by Astemo, so the braking system and traction control or engine mapping can be seamlessly tied-in with the camera-based ARAS.