Skip to main content

Europe to test autonomous cars with motorcycles

Following a letter written by motorcyclists’ organisations Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations (FEMA), MAG NL and KNMV sent to the Netherlands Vehicle Authority RDW, expressing concerns about European type approval for Tesla, vehicle authorities will cooperate with motorcyclists’ organisations and conduct their own test program with different brands of semi-autonomous cars. A driver of a Tesla – and of an increasing number of advanced cars – can leave key actions to the vehicle, while in t
December 1, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Following a letter written by motorcyclists’ organisations 1818 Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations (FEMA), MAG NL and KNMV sent to the Netherlands Vehicle Authority RDW, expressing concerns about European type approval for 8534 Tesla, vehicle authorities will cooperate with motorcyclists’ organisations and conduct their own test program with different brands of semi-autonomous cars.

A driver of a Tesla – and of an increasing number of advanced cars – can leave key actions to the vehicle, while in the opinion of the motorcyclists’ organisations this equipment is not or not sufficiently tested with motorcycles and other powered two wheelers.

The decision follows a meeting at which the joint conclusion of RDW and the motorcyclists’ organisations was that properly functioning advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) can provide an added value to road safety, but there are also disadvantages when drivers don’t use it properly and do not and pay sufficient attention to traffic.

RDW proposes, in cooperation with the motorcyclists’ organisations, to increase the knowledge on this issue by conducting their own test program with different brands of ADAS-equipped cars. This test program must objectively assess the technique that should ensure motorcycles and other powered two wheelers are detected by the car’s sensors and whether that technology also responds correctly to the presence of motorcycles. RDW also believes, as do the riders, that testing with motorcycles should be part of the test protocol for European type approval.

The test program will be developed in the first quarter of 2017, the organisations will explore what research in the field of testing motorcycles with semi-autonomous cars is already available and the research questions will be formulated. Following that, field tests will be conducted in 2017.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Tunnel simulators vital for real world tunnel management
    January 23, 2012
    Guillaume Ponsar, tunnel safety engineer with Egis Road Operation, writes about the advantages to be gained from the use of tunnel simulators. Major tunnel disasters over the last decade and more have shown how swiftly and badly a simple crash or fire may evolve should the wrong actions be taken by control room operators or traffic managers. Global safety issues and the reactions of operations staff have now become the principal concerns for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) service providers. As a result, n
  • ITS America, Global Automakers respond to NHTSA's connected car ANPRM
    August 19, 2014
    ITS America and international motor vehicle manufacturers’ representative the Association of Global Automakers (Global Automakers) have responded to the US Department of Transportation's (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) and a supporting comprehensive research report on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications technology. The report will include analysis of the Department's research findings in several key areas including technical
  • Remote remedies help US authorities identify bridge deficiencies
    September 6, 2017
    Every day 185 million vehicles – cars, trucks, school buses, emergency response units - cross one or more of America’s 55,710 'structurally compromised' steel and concrete road bridges, the highest concentration of which are in Iowa (nearly 5,000), Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Nearly 2,000 of these crossings are located on interstate highways, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's recent analysis of the US Department of Transportation's 2016 National Bridge Inventory.
  • Robotic Research: harnessing AV potential
    June 10, 2021
    Robotic Research is leading in AV R&D, from work with the US Army to enabling the first automated BRT line in North America: Gordon Feller assesses what the company is doing