Ducati stay connected: Bologna team up with Lamborghini to display new motorcycle to car safety system

Ducati are once again pushing the boundaries of high-tech electronics in a bid to improve motorcycle safety with a new system designed to communicate with other vehicles.

Ducati were the first motorcycle manufacturer to have their entire range equipped with Cornering ABS and to introduce Blind Spot Detection via a rear-mounted radar, now the Italian giant has unveiled a prototype of what they call their ‘Vehicle Communication’ system.

Also referred to as ‘V2V’ (vehicle to vehicle), it’s based on its bikes electronically communicating with other compatible road users, and flashing dash warnings in specific situations if unseen hazards arise.

The unveiling took place at Lausitzring, Germany, at an event organised by the ‘Connected Motorcycle Consortium’, an international group of manufacturers Ducati joined in 2016 whose aim is to ‘include two-wheeled vehicles in the future of connected mobility to improve the safety of motorcyclists.’

In a display involving a specially-equipped Ducati Multistrada V4 and Lamborghini Urus car, the system was demonstrated in three specific hazardous road scenarios. Both Lamborghini and Ducati are owned by Audi, part of the VW group, which implies the system could be rolled out to a much wider group of vehicles. This consortium also includes Porsche, Bentley, Cupra, Seat, Skoda, and more.

The three scenarios, or ‘cases’, were identified by CMC as the most dangerous between motorcycles and cars and also most likely to benefit from communication between vehicles.

In the first, ‘Intersection Movement Assist’ (‘IMA’) flashes a warning on the dash of a compatible car if it is approaching a road junction and detects that a possibly unseen bike is approaching.

In the second, a ‘Do Not Pass Warning’ (‘DNPW’) is flashed on a bike’s dash when filtering past traffic and the bike detects that a perhaps unseen vehicle ahead is indicating to turn across it.

While the third, ‘Left Turn Assist’/‘LTA’ (presumably to be called ‘Right Turn Assist’ for the UK), applies when a bike and car approach in opposite directions, the driver may not have seen the bike and turns across its path. In this case a warning flashes on the bike’s dashboard as the driver indicates.

“For Ducati the issue of road safety is really important,” said Simone Di Piazza, Ducati Innovation Manager. “We are convinced that communication between vehicles, when introduced on all bikes and cars, will have a fundamental role in reducing the number and severity of accidents involving motorcyclists.”

Watch Ducati’s safety tech demonstration video here: