Should autonomous emergency braking become mandatory on motorcycles?

At this stage, I cannot make recommendations about a future introduction of MAEB on the market.

But a controversial statement was reported in an interesting article about autonomous emergency braking for motorcycles (also known as MAEB). We read that:

"A MELBOURNE university doctor has called for automatic emergency braking technology to become compulsory on motorcycles as figures show riders continue to be over-represented in fatal crashes."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/monash-universitys-giovanni-savino-wants-automatic-motorcycle-braking-to-cut-road-deaths/story-fnjwpv39-1227104010687?nk=685385775bb118aead2367c2cbb45113

I was contacted by the journalist Joshua Dowling who interviewed me over the phone on 13th October 2014. This interview was done in the occasion of the presentation of one of my recent studies about the effectiveness of autonomous emergency braking for motorcycle at the AAAM annual meeting (link to the paper).

I must clarify that I did not say "autonomous emergency braking should become compulsory on motorcycles". This safety functionality is promising, and that is why I believe it should be further investigated. However, its potential effectiveness in terms of crash injury reduction for riders is currently unclear.

I have expressed my opinion about MAEB also in a recent radio interview by Red Symons on ABC Melbourne.

[last update: 10 November 2014]

ABRAM is testing autonomous emergency braking for motorycles

The Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) is conducting a pilot study to investigate the possible behaviours and the subjective perception of motorcycle riders when an automatic deceleration kicks in.

The test consists of mild decelerations of the motorcycle while traveling at a constant speed of 40 km/h along a straight in a flat area free from traffic and obstacles. The deceleration triggers at random time within a given time window. The decelerations are produced by cutting out the engine power thus making the vehicle slow down due to frictions with a constant deceleration of 2 m/s^2 (corresponding to 20% of a full braking action).

Autonomous emergency braking for motorcycles featured on SBS News

A TV crew from SBS interviewed Dr Giovanni Savino about his research topic. The video of the interview was featured on SBS News on 22 January 2014.

"The over representation of motorcycle riders on our road toll has researchers focused on improving the safety of the two wheeled vehicles. A scientist from Italy is on a fellowship in Melbourne and pioneering an Australian first, creating a simulated motorcycle to test whether "autonomous emergency braking" could assist the rider in the case of an imminent collision. AEB is already used in some cars, to help reduce the risk of vehicle crashes." Copyright SBS 2014

See the video on demand on sbs.com.au (Expires on 29 Jan 2014)